Fig 1.
Images from different experimental treatments in the experimental site.
A is the overall view of the experimental base, b is intercropping wheat with maize silage and replanting sorghum-sudangrass hybrid after wheat harvest, c is intercropping wheat with cabbage, replanting oil sunflower after wheat harvest, and replanting maize silage after cabbage harvest, d is sole wheat, after wheat harvest, half of the land is replanted with maize silage, and half of the land is replanted with oil sunflower. Reprinted from [ref] under a CC BY license, with permission from [name of publisher], original copyright [original copyright year].
Table 1.
The sowing date, harvesting date, and irrigation scheduling of each crop for different experimental treatments. The irrigation amount and irrigation frequency of each crop in 2022 and 2023 will remain unchanged, and the sowing and harvesting dates will be kept within two days for two years.
Fig 2.
The diagrammatic framework and evaluation index of experimental protocol.
Table 2.
Advantages of intercropping under different intercropping and multiple cropping modes in 2022-2023. The biomass of each crop is measured at harvest, with a sample size of n = 9, establish three plots for each treatment, and within each plot, randomly select three sampling points. The standard deviation of wheat biomass for each treatment ranges from 0.08 to 0.13. For maize silage, it ranges from 0.31 to 0.49. For the sorghum-sudangrass hybrid, it is between 0.36 and 0.44. For cabbage, it ranges from 0.39 to 0.59. For oil sunflower, it is between 0.40 and 0.56.
Fig 3.
The biological yield per cubic meter of water (a) and output value per cubic meter of water (b) in 2022-2023.
The sample size for each treatment is n = 9, establish three plots for each treatment, and within each plot, randomly select three sampling points. The standard deviations of the biomass yield per cubic meter of water, averaged over the two years for T1 to T4, were 0.59, 0.49, 0.52, and 0.45, respectively. The standard deviations of the average output value of one cubic meter of water treated by T1-T4 over two years are 0.41, 0.29, 0.32, and 0.33, respectively.
Fig 4.
The interspecific relative competitive ability of two intercropping crops in 2022(a) and 2023 (b), Sunflowers (wheat) and maize (wheat) were replanted after T3 treatment with wheat.
The sample size for each treatment is n = 9, establish three plots for each treatment, and within each plot, randomly select three sampling points.
Table 3.
Economic benefits of different planting modes in 2022-2023. The sample size for each treatment is n = 9, establish three plots for each treatment, and within each plot, randomly select three sampling points. The standard deviation of net income for each planting mode in 2022 ranges from 0.33 to 0.41, while in 2023 it ranges from 0.28 to 0.39.