Metabolomic and metagenomic analyses elucidate the role of intercropping in mitigating continuous cropping challenges in tobacco

Collectively, our results indicate that the intercropping could enhance the activity of Livs to enhance the ABC transport pathway, and thus improve the transmembrane transport ability of tobacco roots, thus reducing the negative impact of continuous tobacco cropping. At the same time, the maize-tobacco intercropping could promote the production and transportation of phenolic acids, flavonoids, and other bioactive substances in the tobacco root system, which could enhance tobacco adaptation capacity to abiotic stress.