Multispecies co-culture promotes ecological intensification of vegetable production. (1st June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wan, Nian-Feng; Su, Honghua; Cavalieri, Andrea; Brack, Benjamin; Wang, Jin-Yang; Weiner, Jacob; Fan, Neng-Neng; Ji, Xiang-Yun; Jiang, Jie-Xian
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 257(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-06-01
• Subjects: Arthropod predator -- Biodiversity -- Chongming island -- Chlorantraniliprole suspension concentrate -- Flower strip -- Insect herbivore -- Pesticide reduction; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120851
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: Increasing agricultural biodiversity by diversifying crops or by co-culture of crops and aquatic animals has been widely recognised as a way to promote ecological intensification of crop production and reduce the use of pesticides. However, the potential of multi-trophic-level production systems, such as the co-culture of vegetables, flowers and aquatic animals, has received little attention. We performed a two-year experiment comparing multispecies (cauliflower, taro, flowers and aquatic animals) co-culture, and mono-cauliflower farming practices on the Chongming Eco-island of China. The abundance of herbivorous insects and their predators, pesticide input and cauliflower yield were recorded. The results indicated that multispecies co-culture decreased the abundance of insect herbivores by 19.9–26.0% and thus decreased pesticide use by 22.2–30.0%. Meanwhile, we found that co-culture of crops, flowers and aquatic animals increased the abundance (29.5–34.1%), and species diversity of invertebrate predators (3.3–3.8%), and increased cauliflower yield (6.9–7.5%). There were significant positive relationships between the abundance, species richness (or diversity) of arthropod predators and cauliflower yield. Multispecies co-culture has great potential to promote ecological intensification of vegetable production and the associated ecosystem services. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Agrobiodiversity can increase the use of ecological processes in plant production. Multispecies co-culture is one of the most important agrobiodiversity practices. Cauliflowers were cultivated with aquatic animals, taros and ornamental flowers. Multispecies co-culture increased the abundance and diversity of predators of pests. Multispecies co-culture decreased pesticide use and increased cauliflower yield.