Legume diversity and yield stability in contrasting environments

Spatial and temporal variation in growth and N₂ fixation is a major problem for the sustainability of legume cropping systems. This initiation project combined experiences from very contrasting environments: Sweden, Morocco, and Canada, in order to identify common grounds for joint research about yield stability and sustainability in diversified legume-based cropping systems. The collaboration benefited research as well as education at Master and PhD levels at the participating departments. A common experimental design for assessing multi-level diversification was developed and put in place in Morocco during the winter season 2011-2012 and in Canada and Sweden during the summer season 2012. In Sweden, this new approach was successfully combined with an ongoing project, “Yield stability in varietal mixtures of faba bean”, and investigated in an MSc thesis in agroecology about effects of poplar trees on the performance of faba bean and spring wheat intercropped in an agroforestry system.

Funding: STINT, The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education

Project leader: Georg Carlsson

Partners: Cherki Ghoulam, University of Marrakesh, Morocco, Marney Isaac,University of Toronto, Canada.

Publications:

Isaac ME, Carlsson G, Ghoulam C, Makhani M, Thevathasan NV, Gordon A. Legume performance and nitrogen acquisition strategies in a tree-based agroecosystem. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 38:686-703. 

Published MSc thesis related to the project:

http://stud.epsilon.slu.se/5088/1/Sarwar_S_121126.pdf