Cereal-legume intercropping to stabilise yields in tropical regions: evaluation of the STICS soil-crop model.

The ability of cereal-legume intercropping to increase and stabilise yields in tropical climates has not been tested over a wide range of environments. We evaluated the STICS crop model and simulated a 20-year historical climate series for sole crops and cereal-legume intercropping on sites with contrasting climates in tropical regions. During the evaluation, the model simulated yields accurately except in the case of very low-yielding legumes in intercropping. The simulations then suggested that intercropping increased protein productivity and yield stability compared with cereal sole cropping, although these benefits diminished as nitrogen fertilisation increased. Recently published work on improvements to the model will enable these promising results to be consolidated.

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Publication Details

Journal
SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Published
2025-05-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17180/ciag-2025-vol99-art07-gb
Primary Topic
Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
Type
article
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article

Cereal-legume intercropping to stabilise yields in tropical regions: evaluation of the STICS soil-crop model.

François Affholder, Amadou Traoré, Éric Justes, Gatien N. Falconnier et al.
SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
article

Cereal-legume intercropping to stabilise yields in tropical regions: evaluation of the STICS soil-crop model.

François Affholder, Amadou Traoré, Éric Justes, Gatien N. Falconnier, Sidy Sow, Myriam Adam, Antoine Couëdel, Yolande Senghor, Aminata Ganeme, Mathias Christina, Alpha Bocar Baldé, Mathilde de Freitas
article en

Abstract

The ability of cereal-legume intercropping to increase and stabilise yields in tropical climates has not been tested over a wide range of environments. We evaluated the STICS crop model and simulated a 20-year historical climate series for sole crops and cereal-legume intercropping on sites with contrasting climates in tropical regions. During the evaluation, the model simulated yields accurately except in the case of very low-yielding legumes in intercropping. The simulations then suggested that intercropping increased protein productivity and yield stability compared with cereal sole cropping, although these benefits diminished as nitrogen fertilisation increased. Recently published work on improvements to the model will enable these promising results to be consolidated.

SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Université Gaston Berger (SN), Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo (BF), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR), University of Zimbabwe (ZW), Eduardo Mondlane University (MZ), Université de Montpellier (FR), Institut de l'Environnement et Recherches Agricoles (BF), Agroécologie (FR), Institut d'Économie Rurale (ML), Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (SN), Agro-écologie et intensification durable des cultures annuelles
Openalex Percentile: Top 54%
Agronomic Practices and Intercropping Systems
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