Effects of strip diversification on crop performance in strip cropping system in the Netherlands

Summary

Strip cropping, as a form of intercropping, allows sufficiently width to conduct separate machinery management on each component crop while remaining sufficiently close to influence each other. Regarded as one of the main diversification methods, strip cropping delivers ecosystem services such as nitrogen supply, yield increases and nutrient uptake in an input-sparse manner. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of spatial (strip width) and genetic (strip crop) diversification strategies on crop yield and quality in the strip cropping system. Experiments were conducted in 2018 at four organic farms in the Netherlands. In strip width study, strip cropping system of potato, carrot, and cauliflower was designed to study the influence of a variety of strips widths by 6m, 12m, 24m, and 48m (Control)