Intercropping melons and peppers in cotton fields yields high comprehensive benefits

Xinchang Town in Shishou City, Hubei Province, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is a major cotton-producing area, with 23,250 mu of cotton planted year-round. In recent years, the town has actively optimized its planting structure, explored and applied the model of intercropping melons (or peppers) in cotton fields, achieving multiple harvests per year and multiple income sources from one field, improving the overall benefits of cotton fields, and blazing a successful trail in planting structure adjustment.

In the past, the town planted cotton alone, generally producing 87 kg of lint cotton per mu, with an output value of 940 yuan. According to a 2002 survey, however, the town's cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping model produced output values of 3,153 yuan and 3,126 yuan per mu respectively, which were 2,213 yuan and 2,186 yuan higher than the output value per mu of cotton planted alone. Of this, each mu produced 2.25 tons of melons or 4 tons of peppers, with output values of 2,026 yuan and 2,000 yuan respectively; and produced 104 kg of lint cotton, with an output value of 1,126 yuan. Generally, the input for cotton-melon intercropping was 680 yuan per mu, for cotton-pepper intercropping 620 yuan, and for cotton planted alone 240 yuan. The input-output ratios of the three were 4.64, 5.04 and 3.92 respectively, with the input-output ratio of cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping being 18.4% and 28.6% higher than that of cotton planted alone.

Adopting the cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping model can improve the risk resistance of cotton planting. Cotton has a long growth period, and its natural disaster and market risks are relatively greater than those of other crops. However, after introducing cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping, because one harvest was changed to two, with an extra season of melons or peppers harvested, the risk of cotton planting is much smaller than that of cotton planted alone. In cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping, because plastic film mulching is used and large amounts of organic fertilizer are applied, the ground temperature can be effectively raised, promoting early growth and rapid development of cotton, and enhancing the cotton's ability to resist low temperatures and continuous rain in the early stage, high temperatures and drought in the middle stage, and premature senescence in the late stage. For example, in 2003, cotton spring sowing encountered prolonged low temperatures and continuous rain, which seriously affected the growth and development of other transplanted cotton, but had little effect on cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping cultivation. According to a survey on June 15, 2003, the cotton plant height, number of main stem leaves, number of fruiting branch layers per plant and number of squares per plant in cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping increased by 8.2 cm, 2.8 leaves, 2.78 layers and 2.78 respectively compared with cotton fields planted alone.

Cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping can make full use of seasonal and spatial differences, increasing the multiple cropping index; it has high cultivation and management efficiency, as one round of management benefits both crops, saving labor and effort; one film serves two purposes, improving the use efficiency of plastic film and saving costs; returning melon (pepper) vines and leaves to the field can save fertilizer; integrated pest and disease control can save pesticides; fine management and increased application of organic fertilizer build up soil fertility, which is conducive to sustainable yield increases in cotton fields. Cotton-melon (pepper) intercropping is a good way to optimize the planting structure.