ROOT DISTRIBUTION VARIATION OF CROPS UNDER WALNUT-BASED INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS IN THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA

Genetic diversity in chestnuts of Kashmir valley
Efficient managing practices require an understanding of the root distribution of crop in walnut (Juglans regia)-crop
intercropping systems, a field study was conducted in the Loess Plateau of China to examined the vertical distribution and
horizontal variation of roots for soybean (Glycine max) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea) grown with walnut trees. Crop roots
were sampled to 60 cm depth at five distances from the tree row using stratified digging method. The results showed that
72.7% of total root length density (RLD) for intercropped soybean distributed in the 0-10 cm soil layer and sole soybean
roots in the first soil layer were determined to 54.3% of total RLD. The RLD of intercropped peanut primarily located in the
0-10 cm soil layer, reaching the average of 52.8 cm dm-3
for the five distances from the tree row. While the maximum RLD
of 62.1 cm dm-3
for sole peanut was achieved in the 10-20 cm soil layer. The RLDs of both intercropped soybean and peanut
increased with distance from the tree row, but the corresponding values at 1-1.5 m and 1.5-2 m from the tree row were
significantly less than those at other distances. In addition, although the depths of root vertical barycenter (RVB) for both
intercropped soybean and peanut tend to move downward with distance from the tree row, they were always shallower than
sole soybean and peanut. Greater proximity to the tree row reduced crop roots and, furthermore, compelled crop roots to
highly concentrate in the upper soil layer (0-10 cm), especially within the range of 1-2 m from the tree row.
Keywords: Soybean, peanut, stratified digging method, root length density, root vertical barycenter, spatial distribution
variation
INTRODUCTION
Crop cultivation is the traditional model of agricultural land
use and the main source of income to farmers in the Loess
Plateau of China, but it was limited badly by the water
resources shortage and the unsound management (Zhu and
Zhu, 2003). These directly resulted in farmers to replace the
crops on their farmland with economic tree because it offers
higher benefits than other farming practices and has stronger
drought resistance and high adaptability to fragmented
terrace ridge (Bi et al., 2011; Yu et al., 1979). But economic
tree plantation is naturally long-term investments and may
take several years until it generate a consumable output
(Caviglia-Harris et al., 2003), so agricultural crop was
cultivated in alleyways between tree rows during the early
years of tree production to provide the short-term
profitability for the farming systems. And this practice also
will buffer the effect of food insecurity in the region (Adisa
and Balogun, 2013). During the intercropping period, if the
income of intercrops is less than the investment, such
intercropping will result in failure of the framing systems
and not be adopted by farmers.
A drawback to combining tree with crop, however, is that
tree roots extended to the crop alley where the tree and crop
may compete for resources, in particularly where the
availability of resources are limited (Jose et al., 2006; van
Noordwijk et al., 1996). The competition between tree and
crop resulted in the reduction of crop roots and changed the
root distribution of when exploitation of a resource by the
tree (Neykova et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2013), thus limiting
growth and productivity of crop due to the suppression of
the ability in resources acquirement (Yun et al., 2012).
Smith et al. (1999) found that the dominant root system of
Silkoak (Grevillea robusta) tree and the high density of their
roots at the top of the profile resulted in that maize (Zea
mays) roots exhibited growth suppression in the upper
region of the soil profile because of the low water
availability. Livesley et al. (2000) also identified that maize
root length decreased with greater proximity to the tree row,
and potentially decreasing crop’s ability to compete for soil
resources. Those studies indicated that crop roots in spatial
distribution had high plasticity to adapt to the competition
and maximize access to soil resources in agroforestry
systems (Lose et al., 2003). However, Meng et al. (2002)
found that the amount of crop roots was less in zones
influenced by trees but there is no significant difference for
vertical and temporal distribution of crop roots between the
intercropping and the monoculture. Schroth and Zech (1995)
even observed Gliricidia sepium hedgerows can improve
Pak. J. Agri. Sci., Vol. 51(4), 773-778; 2014
ISSN (Print) 0552-9034, ISSN (Online) 2076-0906
http://www.pakjas.com.pk
ROOT DISTRIBUTION VARIATION OF CROPS UNDER WALNUT-BASED
INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS IN THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA
Huasen Xu1
, Huaxing Bi1,2,*
, Weimin Xi3
, Randy L. Powell3
, Lubo Gao1
and Lei Yun1,2
1
College of Water and Soil Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China; 2
Shanxi Jixian Forest
Ecosystem Research Station, Jixian, Shanxi, China; 3
Department of Biological and Health Sciences,
Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas, USA.
*
Corresponding author’s e-mail: bhx@bjfu.edu.cn

Xu, Bi, Xi, Powell, Gao & Yun
774
crop roots development through the favourable effect of
mulch.
Knowledge of the rooting pattern of crop is necessary for
better understanding the mechanisms of interspecific
competition between tree and crop to take rational
management and optimize structure configuration (Ong and
Leakey, 1999; Schenk, 2006). Although many competitive
vectors about crop roots in intercropping systems have been
identified, the competitive effects of the tree on crop roots
was inadequately quantified, specifically in quantity and
spatial distribution variation of intercrop roots compared to
sole crop. With that background, soybean (Glycine max) and
peanut (Arachis hypogaea) under walnut (Juglans regia)-
based intercropping systems were selected in this study
because they are major cash crops in the Loess Plateau of
China. Our study was carried out to analyze and quantify
spatial distribution variation of intercrops roots and to test
the hypothesis that crop roots were adversely affected by the
competition from trees.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Experimental site: The experimental site located in Jixian
County (35°53′-36°21′ N, 110°27′-111°07′ E), Shanxi
Province, China. Jixian County is a typical fragmented and
gully area in the Loess Plateau. Climate in this area is of
temperate continental monsoon nature with four distinct
seasons, rainfall and heat in the same period, adequate
illumination. The average annual precipitation is 571 mm
and unevenly distribute throughout the year. The average
annual temperature and the average annual cumulative
temperature above 10°C is 9.9°C and 3357.9°C, respectively.
The daylight hours are 2563.8 hr., and frost free period is
172 d. During the growing season from April to October, it
has the accumulative temperature above 10°C of 3050°C,
with daylight hours of 1498 hr., and rainfall is 521 mm
accounting for more than 90% of the total annual
precipitation. The soil is loess parent material, thick soil
layer with uniform properties. The bulk density, organic C,
total N, available P and available K, pH, cation exchange
capacity, and Ca of the 0-100 cm soil layer is 1.32 g cm-3
,
12.3 g kg-1
, 0.79 g kg-1
, 19.2 mg kg-1
and 225.7 mg kg-1
, 7.92,
18.43 cmol kg-1
, 9.2 mg kg-1
respectively. The major species
of economic tree planted for agroforestry are walnut, apple
(Malus pumila), apricot (Prunus armeniaca). The major crop
species cultivated in agroforestry systems are soybean,
peanut, maize. Since no irrigation practiced in the
experimental area in the experimental area, the tree and crop
mostly depend on the rainfall received.
Plant materials: The experiment was conducted in a
provincial demonstration zone of walnut-crop intercropping
systems in August 2011. Walnut trees were planted at a
spacing of 7.0 m×7.0 m in 2006. The average tree crown
width and tree height was 2.1 m and 4.1 m respectively in
August 2011. Intercropped soybean and peanut were
cultivated at a spacing of 0.45 m×0.15 m and 100 cm away
from the tree row. Sole soybean and peanut were also
cultivated at a spacing of 0.45 m×0.15 m.
Experimental design and procedure: The area within a
distance of 1.0 m to 3.5 m from the tree row was used as
experimental area in the walnut-crop intercropping systems.
In this area, we designed a plot (2.5 m in length
perpendicular to the tree row, 0.5 m in width parallel to the
tree row) with two replications, and we divided each plot
into five equal size sections (parallel to the tree row)
according to the distance from the tree row, which were
denoted as 1-1.5 m, 1.5-2 m, 2-2.5 m, 2.5-3 m and 3-3.5 m
from the tree row respectively (Fig. 1). Three sections (0.5 m
in length and 0.5 m in width) were randomly selected as
contrast in soybean and peanut monoculture systems
respectively. Soybean and peanut roots were excavated and
collected hierarchically in vertical soil profile at four depth
Figure 1. Location of sampling plots and sections in walnut-crop intercropping systems.

Intercropping in walnut
775
intervals of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm in
both intercropping and monoculture systems. This work was
conducted based on Forestry Standards “Observation
Methodology for Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research” of
People’s Republic of China (LY/T 1952-2011).
Root processing and measurement: Root samples were
individually collected and put into mesh bags (0.28 mm
pores). After being soaked in water for 24 hours, samples
were washed with tap water to remove soil particles
adhering to the roots. Dead roots with dark color, or partly
decomposed and brittle were removed with charcoal and
other extraneous materials. Cleaned root samples were
placed in 100 ml of 30% (v/v) methanol solution for storage
at 4°C.
Data were expressed as root length density (RLD, cm dm-3
).
We identified root length of soybean and peanut root
samples by WinRHIZO (Regent Instruments. Inc., Quebec,
Canada) image analysis system, then the RLD was
calculated as the ratio of the root length (L, cm) to the
sample volume (V, dm3
) (Merrill and Upchurch, 1994) and
the formula was:
V
L
RLD [1]
Calculations for root spatial distribution variation:
Varignon’s theorem can be used for solving barycenter
measuring in biomechanics for heterogeneous object (See
Zatsiorsky et al. [2000] for a detail description). Since crop
root system in whole vertical soil profile is heterogeneous
and it can be regarded as homogeneous in each soil layer,
the theorem was also applied to quantify vertical barycenter
of crop roots to explore their spatial distribution variation
(Wang et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2013). The root vertical
barycenter (RVB, cm) in each sampling section was
calculated as follows:



n
i
ii PD
1
RVB [2]
where i (i ≤5 ) represents soil layer, Di is the depth of the
middle of ith
soil layer and Pi is the proportion that the RLD
of ith
soil layer accounted for the total RLD in 0-60 cm soil
layer.
Data analysis: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was
performed using SPSS 20.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, USA).
Two-way ANOVAs were applied to assess differences of the
RLD at different distances and depths for soybean and
peanut, and the significance of their mean values (n=3) were
compared by the least significant difference (LSD). We
examined differences of the RVB at different distances from
the tree row using two-way ANOVAs for soybean and
peanut. Paired-samples T tests were conducted on RLD of
crops to test the distribution difference between soil layers.
Statistical results were showed with error bars and
significance level (P), and differences at the P ≤ 0.05 were
considered statistically significant.
RESULTS
Vertical distribution of root length density: The vertical
distribution of RLD for both intercropped soybean and sole
soybean significantly declined (P<0.05) with decreasing soil
depth (Table 1). Moreover, the RLD of intercropped
soybean concentrated in the surface soil layer (0-10 cm),
where it accounted for 72.7% (the mean value at the five
distances from the tree row) of total RLD in 0-60 cm soil
layer. The RLD of intercropped soybean in the 10-20 cm soil
layer was significantly 67.6% less than that in the surface
soil layer (P<0.05). However, only 4.4% of total RLD
distributed in the subsoil (20–60 cm depth) for intercropped
soybean. For sole soybean, the RLD in the 0-10 cm soil
layer (RLD was 141.1 cm dm-3
) accounted for 54.3% of total
RLD and was greater than that for intercropped soybean.
Meanwhile, the RLD difference between the first two soil
layers for sole soybean was still significant (P<0.05)
although it was lower than intercropped soybean. In addition,
9.0% of total RLD located in the 20-60 cm soil layer for sole
soybean, which was also higher than intercropped soybean.
Similarly, the RLD of intercropped peanut decreased
significantly as soil depth declined (P<0.05) (Table 1). And
62.2% of total RLD distributed in the surface layer (0-10
cm), which was 49.3% higher than that in the second soil
layer. Only 6.6% of total RLD existed in the 20-60 cm soil
layer for intercropped peanut, which was similar to
intercropped soybean. Unlike those in intercropping system,
the RLD of sole peanut increased with decreasing soil depth
above 20 cm and achieved the maximum of 62.1 cm dm-3
in
the 10-20 cm soil layer. However, still 15.4% of total RLD
existed in the 20-60 cm soil layer for sole peanut, which was
significantly greater than that for intercropped peanut
(P<0.05).
Horizontal distribution of root length density: The
cumulative RLD (0-60 cm depth) for soybean and peanut
significantly increased (P<0.05) from 125.3 cm dm-3
and
56.5 cm dm-3
at 1-1.5 from the tree row to 122.3 cm dm-3
and 237.3 cm dm-3
at 3-3.5 from the tree row respectively
(Table 1). However, the multiple comparisons analyses
showed that no significant difference was found between
1-1.5 m and 1.5-2 m from the tree row (P>0.05), while they
had significant differences with the 2-2.5 m, 2.5-3 m and
3-3.5 m from the tree row respectively (P<0.05). It’s worth
noting that the RLDs at all distances from the tree row were
lower than those at the contrast.
Spatial distribution variation of crop roots: The variation of
RVB could reflect the combined differences in both
horizontal and vertical distances. Significant increases
(P<0.05) with increasing distance from the tree row for the
depths of the RVB were observed for intercropped soybean
and peanut (Fig. 2), which indicated that the amount of roots
in subsoil grew with the distance from the tree row. The
depths of the RVB at 1.-1.5 m and 1.5-2 m from the tree row

776
were significantly shallower than those at other distances
from the tree row (P<0.05), which was similar to the
horizontal variation of the RLD. In contrast, intercropped
soybean and peanut had significantly lower (P<0.05) depths
of the RVB than sole soybean and peanut, respectively.
Figure 2. The depths of root vertical barycenter for
soybean and peanut at five distances from the
tree row in walnut-crop intercropping systems
and crop monoculture systems. Bars represent
standard deviations.
DISCUSSION
By means of layer-wise comparison, soybean and peanut
grown with walnut trees all had intense coverage in soil
depth of the uppermost 10 cm compared to sole soybean and
peanut. Furthermore, the shallower root distribution for crop
in intercropping systems may have experienced above- and
below-ground competition because the canopy and root
system of walnut developed simultaneously with that of the
crop (Livesley et al., 2005; Moreno et al., 2005), which will
directly lead to the decrease of crop yields (Yun et al., 2012;
Gao et al., 2013). Meanwhile, the rapid decline of RLD and
the shallower depth of RVB in vertical profile are indicative
of more asymmetrical vertical distribution of intercrops roots.
These results indicate that crop roots can plastically change
their vertical distribution in response to spatial
heterogeneous soil moisture and nutrient when concurrent
growth occurs with other competitive root systems (Mou et
al., 1997; Farooq et al., 2009). However, the relatively low
fraction of RLD in the subsoil for intercrops implies their
incapacity to grow into deep soil, which is of no avail to
exploit more soil moisture and nutrient for sustainable
growth of crops.
The roots of both intercropped soybean and peanut tended to
thrive with distance from the tree row, which potentially
increased their competitive uptake advantage for soil
moisture and nutrient (Eastham and Rose, 1990) and also
was a positive response to the weaker competition from
Table 1. Spatial distribution of root length density (cm dm-3
) for crop in walnut-crop intercropping systems and
crop monocropping systems
Planting types Distances (m) Soil depth (cm)
0-10 10-20 20-40 40-60 Total
Intercropped
soybean
1-1.5 99.7±10.5 Aa 20.7±2.8 Ab 4.3±0.7 Ac 0.7±0.2 Ad 125.3±15.2 A
1.5-2 105.2±10.7 Aa 22.1±3.2 Ab 4.6±0.3 Ac 1.0±0.2 Ad 132.9±14.4 A
2-2.5 132.2±11.5 Ba 45.3±5.4 Bb 6.3±0.3 Bc 1.7±0.1 Bd 185.5±17.4 B
2.5-3 149.6±13.4 Ca 58.7±5.0 Cb 7.7±0.9 Bc 2.1±0.2 Bc 218.1±19.6 C
3-3.5 153.7±14.7 Ca 71.6±7.6 Db 8.4±1.3 Bc 3.7±0.2 Cc 237.3±23.8 C
Average 128.1±12.2 43.7±5.0 6.3±0.7 1.8±0.2 179.8±18.1
Intercropped
peanut
1-1.5 37.9±01.7 Aa 16.0±1.3 Ab 1.9±0.3 Ac 0.7±0.0 Ad 56.5±03.4 A
1.5-2 40.1±02.2 Aa 16.5±1.3 Ab 2.4±0.2 Ac 1.1±0.1 Ac 60.1±03.8 A
2-2.5 53.7±03.5 Ba 27.1±2.3 Bb 4.0±0.4 Bc 2.7±0.3 Bc 87.6±06.5 B
2.5-3 62.4±04.9 Ca 36.9±1.7 Cb 4.7±0.5 Bc 3.0±0.4 Bc 106.9±07.5 B
3-3.5 70.0±06.8 Da 42.6±3.4 Cb 5.8±0.7 Bc 3.9±0.5 Bc 122.3±11.5 B
Average 52.8±03.8 27.8±2.0 3.8±0.4 2.3±0.3 86.7±06.6
Sole soybean 141.1±13.6 a 95.5±9.2 b 17.0±2.9 c 6.3±0.3 d 259.9±26.0
Sole peanut 51.6±50.7 a 62.1±6.4 a 14.0±1.7 b 6.6±0.9 c 134.3±14.7
Meaningful Orthogonal Contrasts
Intercropped soybean vs. sole
soybean
NS * * * *
Intercropped peanut vs. sole
peanut
NS * * NS *
Values are means±SD; Means sharing similar letter in a row or in a column are statistically non- significant (P>0.05);
Small letters represent comparison among soil layers and capital letters are used for distances from the tree row. *
represents Significant, NS represents Non-significant.

Intercropping in walnut
777
walnut trees (Yun, 2011). The RLDs and the depths of the
RVB for soybean and peanut at five distances from the tree
row all showed an obvious boundary between significant
area (1-2 m from the tree row) and not significant area (2-3.5
m from the tree row). This phenomena illustrated that the
interspecific competition effect of walnut trees on these
crops was intense within the canopy edge than those beyond,
which can be explained by the genetic characteristics of the
walnut tree because the majority of its roots located within 1
times the canopy radius (Ma et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2013).
However, the RLDs of intercrops were still less than those of
sole crops and the depths of the RVB for intercrops
concentrated in shallower soil layer compared to sole crops,
since the influence area of walnut roots could spread
horizontally to 4 m (Liu, 2004).
Agroforestry management practices aim to optimize the
interspecific structure and improve the productivity in
agroforestry systems. The key issue of agroforestry
management is how to minimize interspecific competitions
(Thevathasan and Gordon, 2004). Crop species and walnut
trees coexist an entirely growing season of crop from April
to September when they will be grown together in the Loess
Plateau of China. So agronomic measures should be adopted
to regulate the competition and promote the growth of crop
(Ahmed et al., 2013). The average RLD at five distance
from the tree row for intercropped soybean was 30.8% lower
than that for sole peanut. And the value of intercropped
peanut reached to 35.4%. This difference between soybean
and peanut showed that soybean roots had stronger
adaptability than peanut in competitive situations under
walnut-based intercropping systems. Therefore, soybean was
suggested to be farmer’s first choice for cultivated into the
alleyways between walnut tree rows in this area. Expanding
the spacing between tree rows and setting root barrier for
trees are also rational methods to reduce the negative
influence of trees on crop roots (Jose et al., 2004; von
Kiparski and Gillespie, 2008). According to the root
distribution pattern of intercrops in our study, it was
suggested to plant the crop in the area beyond the range of
2.0 m from the tree row or set root barrier (e.g. digging
furrow along with tree row on both sides) at the 2.0 m from
the tree row to avoid intercrop suffering from underground
resources competition and light restrain resulted from walnut
trees. In addition, more fertilizer should be applied in surface
soil layer (0-10 cm) for the updated intercropping systems to
ensure maximum contact of the fertilizer with crop roots and
reduce the negative effect of walnut trees competing for
nutrient. In a way, these agronomic measures could improve
productivity and returns of the intercropping systems, and
ultimately promote the high efficiency and sustainable
utilization of natural resources.
Conclusions: Under the walnut-based intercropping systems,
intercropped soybean and peanut had relatively lower RLD
at all distances from the tree row than sole soybean and
peanut respectively. This provides direct evidence for the
hypothesis that the presence of walnut trees repaired the
intercrop roots in the intercropping systems. The roots of
intercropped soybean trended to have more shallow
distribution in the soil profile than sole soybean. And the
maximum RLD of intercropped peanut existed in the 0-10
cm soil layer whereas the vertical concentration area of the
roots for sole peanut was in 10-20 cm depth. Additionally,
the RVBs for intercropped soybean and peanut were all apt
to move downward to deep soil as distance from tree row
increased. All of those indicate that the competition from
walnut trees reshaped the spatial distribution of crop roots in
the intercropping systems, i.e., that tree forced crop roots to
concentrate in the shallower soil layer. But this phenomenon
would be relieved as the distance from the tree row
increased. Further research is needed to determine the
dynamic processes of interspecies interactions in tree–crop
intercropping systems with crop of different growth stages
and tree of different ages.
Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the financial supports
from National Natural Science Funds (No. 31470638). This
paper was supported by CFERN & GENE Award Funds on
Ecological Paper. We thank the editor and two anonymous
reviewers for valuable suggestions.
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ROOT DISTRIBUTION VARIATION OF CROPS UNDER WALNUT-BASED INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS IN THE LOESS PLATEAU OF CHINA

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