Shandong pilots corn-peanut intercropping: no reduction in corn, an extra 300 jin of peanuts
Last year, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Transformation of Agricultural Development Modes," proposing to “vigorously promote corn/peanut (soybean) intercropping and relay intercropping in the Huang-Huai-Hai region.”
On August 16, at the “2016 National Peanut-Corn Wide-Band Intercropping Technology Observation and Seminar” held in Gaotang County, Shandong Province, Wan Shubo, president of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, joyfully told reporters: “Through 7 years of trials, the ‘peanut/corn wide-band intercropping high-efficiency ecological planting model’ has achieved the goal of ‘basically no reduction in summer corn, plus an extra three to four hundred jin of peanuts,’ and agricultural machinery and agronomy have been integrated, providing a foundation for large-scale promotion, which will help ease the tightening oilseed supply problem and advance the structural reform of the agricultural supply side.”
Basically no reduction in summer corn, plus an extra three to four hundred jin of peanuts
“This technology has been promoted in our area for several years with very good results. In 2014, the academy's trial plot was set up in my family's field. In the final yield measurement, the per-mu yield was over 1,100 jin of summer corn and over 350 jin of summer peanuts, with a very obvious income-increasing effect.” said Guo Yubao, a large-scale grain grower from Lilouzhai Village, Pulianji Township, Cao County, at the meeting.
Wan Shubo introduced that, with an eye to safeguarding national grain and oil security and boosting farmers' incomes, and focusing on breaking through conflicts such as grain and oil crops competing for land, people and livestock competing for grain, and the lack of coordination between planting and raising, the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences began research on advancing the peanut/corn intercropping planting model in 2010. This technical model adheres to the research approach of “stabilizing corn yield, increasing peanut income and efficiency,” focuses on leveraging the dual advantages of the corn border effect and the biological nitrogen fixation of peanuts, fully taps the production potential of individual corn plants, and, on the premise of ensuring basically no reduction in corn yield, squeezes peanut intercropping and relay intercropping into wide bands by compressing corn plant and row spacing, thereby achieving balanced increases in both grain and oil crops.
The meeting included an on-site visit to a trial plot in Xiaolilou Village, Liangcun Town, Gaotang County. The owner of the trial plot was the widely known large-scale grain grower Li Hongmu. He did the math for reporters: in the past, when only corn was planted, the per-mu yield could reach at most 1,200 jin; at eight or nine mao per jin of corn now, gross income was about 1,000 yuan. Now, with the “wide-band intercropping model,” each mu can produce 1,000 to 1,100 jin of corn and 300 to 350 jin of peanuts; the corn can sell for 900 yuan and the peanuts for nearly 1,000 yuan, raising gross income to more than 1,900 yuan.
Good seeds and good methods already matched, with a foundation for large-scale promotion
At the meeting site, reporters saw a new type of machinery——the “corn/peanut wide-band intercropping integrated seeder.” According to reports, this machinery was jointly developed by the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Shandong University of Technology, integrating “plowing, corn sowing, and peanut sowing” into one, and has advantages such as high operating efficiency, good operating quality, and convenience for field management operations and mechanized harvesting operations.
Zhang Zheng, head of the project trials and director of the Scientific Research Office of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, introduced that for 7 consecutive years, the innovation team has carried out large-scale trial demonstrations of the corn/peanut intercropping planting model in different ecological zones in Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Jilin, and has made major progress in research on planting models, variety selection, plant protection technology, and agricultural machinery supporting facilities, achieving the matching of good seeds with good methods and the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy, laying the foundation for large-scale promotion.
In terms of cultivation models, high-fertility plots are suitable for a corn/peanut = 2:4 model, while medium-fertility plots are suitable for a 3:4 model. In terms of plant protection technology, a dedicated fertilizer formula for corn-peanut intercropping was developed, and pre-emergence herbicides suitable for both corn and peanut crops were screened out. In terms of supporting machinery development, an integrated seeder capable of sowing at the same time and with adjustable row-to-plant ratios, as well as field strip-isolation spraying machinery, were developed, basically achieving full mechanized operations from planting to harvest.
Ease conflicts such as grain and oil crops competing for land, people and livestock competing for grain, and the lack of coordination between planting and raising
Speaking about why this intercropping model was proposed and studied, Zhang Zheng introduced that the first reason is to ease the conflict of grain and oil crops competing for land. In recent years, in order to safeguard food security, the conflict of grain and oil crops competing for land has intensified, and China's oil self-sufficiency rate has fallen by nearly 50 percent. The corn/peanut wide-band intercropping technology, however, can fully leverage the border effect of individual corn plants, increase peanut production while ensuring stable corn output, and achieve simultaneous and balanced increases in grain and oil crops.
Second, it eases the conflict between people and livestock competing for grain. In recent years, pressure from imports of corn and forage grass in China has increased, and the problem of people and livestock competing for grain urgently needs to be broken through. By adopting the corn/peanut wide-band intercropping model, the corn stalks and peanut stems, vines, and shells produced can be processed into high-quality forage through crushing, silage, micro-storage, ammoniation, and other feed treatments, thereby easing the conflict between people and livestock competing for grain.
Third, it solves the problem of the lack of coordination between planting and soil maintenance. At present, factors such as a single cropping system and unreasonable chemical inputs have led to excessive nitrogen fertilizer application, soil compaction, and declining soil fertility, putting the capacity for sustainable yield increases in grain fields to the test. This model introduces the legume crop peanut, using the nitrogen fixation of peanuts to achieve the integration of planting and soil maintenance, with effects such as improving the soil and reducing diseases, and can achieve reductions of more than 10% in inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
“In the future, in addition to continuing research on standardized planting models suited to different ecological zones and efficient supporting agricultural machinery, and continuing to improve the efficient planting technology system of this intercropping model, research should also be strengthened on using peanut cake and meal to replace soybean meal and on the comprehensive utilization of mixed silage (yellow storage) of peanut stems and vines with corn stalks, so as to establish a supporting efficient breeding technology system.” said Wan Shubo.
Our reporter Lu Bingbing, intern Jiang Xinran