Spatial arrangement and biofertilizers enhance the performance of legume – millet intercropping system in rainfed areas of southern India

Abstract Biofertilization via the inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), combined with rhizobia and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), are beginning to become established as an effective and sustainable measure to improve yields. Biofertilization might have a particular potential to boost the yield of intercropping systems in rainfed areas because AMF can form a common mycorrhizal network (CMN) that can transfer nutrients and water between two plants and balance as such belowground competition. In this study, we tested if biofertilizers can enhance the yield of intercropping systems using a pigeon pea (PP) – finger millet (FM) intercropping system grown for two consecutive growing seasons (2016/17 and 2017/18) at two contrasting sites in Bengaluru and Kolli Hills, India. To validate the process of bioirrigation (transfer of water between rhizosphere of two plants), we tested, for the first time, if the spatial arrangement of intercropped plants using either a row-wise or a mosaic design affected yield and water relations with and without biofertilizers. Our results demonstrate that intercropping can improve the straw and grain yield in PP–FM intercropping compared to the respective monocultures but that intercropping effects vary depending on the site characteristic such as climate and soil type. Spatial arrangement of component plants affected the total, straw and grain biomass in intercropping treatments, but this effect also varied across sites. Most importantly, the results from the 2017-18 growing season clearly demonstrated a positive effect of biofertilizer on biomass yield, and this effect was irrespective of site, spatial arrangement, mixed or monoculture. Despite a yield increase in intercropping, we did not see a positive effect of biofertilization on water relations of FM possibly due to interspecific competition for soil moisture where PP dominated. In summary, our study shows the potential of biofertilizers to increase the yield of intercropping systems in rainfed dryland agriculture.