Effects Of Oat, Rape And Ckickpea On Mn Nutrition Of Wheat In Different Cropping Systems

The area of Mn- deficiency soil is large in China. Mn-deficiency in agricultural crops, especially in wheat plants, is secondly to Fe-deficiency in calcareous soils of the world. Interspecific interactions can affect micronutrients uptake. Thus pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of oat, rape and chickpea on Mn nutrition of wheat in intercropping system or in oat-wheat rotation. The main results were as follows:Soil applications of Mn fertilizer significantly improved Mn nutrition of wheat, oat, rape and chickpea in Mn-deficient soil.In the wheat-oat intercropping system, root barriers had no effects on shoot dry weight of wheat, and Mn nutrition of wheat was not improved by the oat-wheat rotation as well.Wheat was the dominating crop in aspects of both the growth and Mn nutrients competition either in wheat-rape or in wheat-chickpea intercropping system, but the growths of rape and chickpea were suppressed by wheat. Root barriers did not affect the total shoot dry weight in wheat-oat system, but the total Mn uptake was lower in no barrier treatment (mixed cropping) than in solid barrier treatment (mono cropping). The total shoot dry weight was highest in no barrier treatment but the total Mn uptake was not significantly different among three root barrier treatments (no barrier, mesh barrier and solid barrier) in wheat-chickpea intercropping system.In general, the results from the present study revealed that wheat growth and Mn nutrition can be improved by wheat-rape and/or wheat-chickpea intercropping systems through interspecific interaction. As a consequence, the growth of intercropped rape or chickpea was inhibited compared with the mono rape or chickpea, respectively.