{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1007/s11104-014-2214-6", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-09-22T16:15:06Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2014-08-09", "title": "The Intercropping Cowpea-Maize Improves Soil Phosphorus Availability And Maize Yields In An Alkaline Soil", "description": "This study assessed whether growing cowpea can increase phosphorus (P) availability in the rhizosphere and improve the yield of legume-cereal systems. In alkaline Mediterranean soils with P deficiency, it is assumed that legumes increase inorganic P availability. A field experiment was conducted at the Staoueli experimental station, in Algiers province, Algeria, to compare the growth, grain yield, P availability, and P uptake by plants with sole-cropped cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. cv. Moh Ouali) and maize (Zea mays L. cv. ILT), intercropped cowpea-maize, and fallow. P availability in the rhizosphere was increased in both sole cropping and intercropping systems compared with fallow. It was highest in intercropping. The increase in P availability was associated with (i) significant pH changes of the rhizosphere of cowpea in sole cropping and intercropping systems, with the rhizosphere acidification significantly higher in intercropping (\u22120.73\u00a0units) than in sole cropping (\u22120.42\u00a0units); (ii) significant increase in the rhizosphere pH of intercropped maize (+0.49\u00a0units) compared to fallow; (iii) increased soil respiration (C-CO2 from microbial and root activity) in intercropping compared with sole cropping and fallow; and (iv) higher efficiency in utilization of the rhizobial symbiosis in intercropping than in sole-cropped cowpea. With cowpea-maize intercropping, cowpea increased the P uptake, by increasing the P availability by rhizosphere pH changes in an alkaline soil. Overall, this study showed that intercropping cowpea improved the plant biomass and grain yield of maize in this soil.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]", "P availability", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "630", "6. Clean water", "[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]", "acidification", "Intercropping", "Rhizosphere", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biological N-2-fixation", "Biological N2-fixation", "Rhizosphere acidification"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2214-6"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Plant%20and%20Soil", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s11104-014-2214-6", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s11104-014-2214-6", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s11104-014-2214-6"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-08-10T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1007/s11104-016-2949-3", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-09-22T16:15:07Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-06-14", "title": "Phosphorus Availability And Microbial Community In The Rhizosphere Of Intercropped Cereal And Legume Along A P-Fertilizer Gradient", "description": "Positive below-ground interactions (facilitation) should be more pronounced when resources limit crop growth, according to the stress-gradient hypothesis. Our aim was to test this hypothesis for intercropped durum wheat and faba bean along a P-fertilizer gradient. A field experiment was conducted in a long-term P-fertilizer trial with three rates of P-fertilization (No, Low and High P). Microbial biomass was assessed by chloroform fumigation-extraction. Quantitative PCR was applied to evaluate the abundance of relevant microbial groups. Phosphorus availability and microbial biomass systematically increased in the rhizosphere compared to bulk soil. P-fertilization resulted in higher abundance of targeted bacterial phyla, whole bacterial and fungal communities, and depressed mycorrhizal colonization of durum wheat, but not faba bean. Microbial biomass carbon significantly increased in the rhizosphere only in P-fertilized treatments, pointing to P limitation of microbial communities. Intercropping yielded a significant effect on rhizosphere microbial properties only at High P. Microbial biomass P increased in the rhizosphere of intercropped faba bean only at No P level, and was thus the sole finding supporting the stress-gradient hypothesis. P-fertilization was the main driver of microbial communities in this field trial, and P-fertilizer application modulated the species-specific effect in the intercrop. Plant performance did not validate the stress-gradient hypothesis as positive plant-plant interactions occurred regardless of the level of P-fertilization.", "keywords": ["[SDE] Environmental Sciences", "engrais phosphat\u00e9", "F08 - Syst\u00e8mes et modes de culture", "[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]", "F62 - Physiologie v\u00e9g\u00e9tale - Croissance et d\u00e9veloppement", "mycorhization", "Triticum turgidum", "630", "fertilisation", "[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_37554", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5800", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_10795", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_24199", "2. Zero hunger", "Mycorrhizal colonization", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Vicia faba", "[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]", "fertilit\u00e9 du sol", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_6569", "Rhizosphere", "Long-term fertilization", "[SDE]Environmental Sciences", "[SHS] Humanities and Social Sciences", "Intercrop", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_8220", "rhizosph\u00e8re", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4819", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7170", "plante c\u00e9r\u00e9ali\u00e8re", "flore microbienne", "disponibilit\u00e9 nutriments (sol)", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_25512", "mod\u00e8le math\u00e9matique", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_36163", "Microbial community", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3081", "phosphate", "P availability", "P34 - Biologie du sol", "15. Life on land", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_16367", "plante l\u00e9gumi\u00e8re", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7958", "628", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3910", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_35986", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "culture intercalaire", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_8165", "F04 - Fertilisation"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2949-3"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Plant%20and%20Soil", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s11104-016-2949-3", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s11104-016-2949-3", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s11104-016-2949-3"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-06-14T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.001", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-09-22T16:16:34Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2014-04-18", "title": "Increase In Microbial Biomass And Phosphorus Availability In The Rhizosphere Of Intercropped Cereal And Legumes Under Field Conditions", "description": "Abstract   Facilitation of plant growth and phosphorus (P) acquisition has recently been reported in cereal\u2013legume intercropping systems. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intercropping could promote P cycling, through microbial biomass P (MBP) changes, in a field trial in a Mediterranean climate. Changes in microbial biomass carbon (MBC), MBP, and inorganic P availability in the rhizosphere of intercropped species were thus investigated in durum wheat/chickpea and durum wheat/lentil intercrops and compared to the bulk soils as well as the rhizosphere of each species grown alone. When expressed relative to the bulk soil, MBC increased in the rhizosphere only for the intercropped plants, irrespective of species. Relative to MBC in the rhizosphere of sole crops, MBC increased in the rhizosphere of the two legume species when intercropped with durum wheat, while no such effect was found for durum wheat. We were unable to detect an increase in P availability in the rhizosphere as a response to intercropping in any of the three crop species, but there was a systematic increase in available P in the rhizosphere relative to the corresponding bulk soil. Fairly similar patterns were observed for MBP as for MBC, except within the rhizosphere of durum wheat when intercropped with chickpea: relative to the bulk soil, MBP increased in the rhizosphere of both lentil and chickpea when intercropped with durum wheat as well as in the rhizosphere of durum wheat when intercropped with chickpea. The differences in microbial biomass changes for a given cereal (durum wheat) when intercropped with two different legumes, suggest that plants have strong species-specific influences on each other as well as on the soil environment. The molar ratios of MBC to MBP (MM C:P) did not vary significantly except for the rhizosphere of durum wheat intercropped with chickpea, which was fairly low (16:1), about half the values found in the other treatments (26\u201340:1). These MM C:P values were lower than those generally reported in soils (38\u201360:1), verifying the hypothesis that microbes can increase storage of soil P in their biomass, creating stocks of microbial P in the soil when P availability is high. In this Mediterranean climate where surface soils undergo frequent drying-rewetting, known for liberation of microbial biomass, MBP could be an important factor influencing P availability. Together, our data demonstrate the importance of intercropping to soil P cycling and highlight the need to examine the rhizosphere of each intercropped species to truly understand how the soil P resource is shared in such agroecosystems.", "keywords": ["[SDV.SA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences", "0301 basic medicine", "570", "F08 - Syst\u00e8mes et modes de culture", "[SDV.SA.AGRO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Agronomy", "Microbial biomass", "F62 - Physiologie v\u00e9g\u00e9tale - Croissance et d\u00e9veloppement", "630", "03 medical and health sciences", "[SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3081", "580", "[SDV.SA.AGRO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Agronomy", "2. Zero hunger", "[SDV.SA] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences", "P availability", "P34 - Biologie du sol", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Stoichiometry", "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4188", "[SDV.EE] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", " environment", "Intercropping", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Facilitation", "environment"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.001"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Biology%20and%20Biochemistry", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.001", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.001", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.001"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-08-01T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=P+availability&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=P+availability&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=P+availability&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=P+availability&offset=3", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 3, "numberReturned": 3, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-09-22T18:52:22.766506Z"}