While early-maturing crops benefit from intercropping, late-maturing crops usually suffer
growth penalties during the intercropping phase. It is possible, however, that recovery or
compensation of the late-maturing crops occurs after the harvest of the early-maturing crops.
Three field experiments were conducted at Baiyun in 1997 and at Jingtan in 1997 and 1998
to test the hypothesis in wheat/maize and wheat/soybean intercropping. The biomass and
nutrient accumulation in intercropped soybean were significantly smaller than in sole …