Intercrop overyielding is maintained under estimated water and nitrogen stress in maize-cowpea on-farm trials in semi-arid Zimbabwe

Problem: Semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa are characterized by highly variable rainfall and low inherent soil fertility. Maize-cowpea intercropping may offer the prospect of increasing and stabilizing crop productivity in these regions. However, the performance of such cropping systems often varies considerably in space and time. Objective: The main objective of the study was to understand how farmer context and rainfall variability influence the performance of maize-cowpea intercropping, using on-farm field experiments together with soil-crop model simulations to compute water and nitrogen stress. Methods: The data used in this study was generated from twelve on-farm trials during two cropping seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23) in semi-arid Zimbabwe. Three maize (Zea mays L.) varieties, one cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) variety and two cropping systems - either sole or intercropped - were tested. The STICS soil-crop model was parameterized to reproduce crop growth in the on-farm trials and compute water and nitrogen (N) stresses. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the impact of experimental treatments and simulated water and N stresses on intercropping performance. Results: The Partial Land Equivalent Ratio (pLER – the ratio of intercropped productivity over sole crop productivity) for maize and cowpea greatly varied across farms and crop types. Maize variety did not significantly impact the pLER of maize and cowpea. Water stress and nitrogen (N) stress simulated by the model were significant predictors of variations in pLER: maize pLER for aboveground biomass significantly decreased with increasing simulated water stress, and maize pLER for grain yield significantly decreased with increased simulated N stress. Yet, average LER remained above one, regardless of the water or N stress on maize, because of a greater contribution of cowpea to LER when water and N stress on maize was high. Late planting was found to exacerbate maize water stress, while low total nitrogen in the top soil was significantly correlated with maize nitrogen stress. Conclusion: Our study reveals that the production benefits of maize-cowpea intercropping can be maintained, in conditions of high water and nitrogen stress in multi-year and multi-location on-farm experiments. Implications: Our findings confirm the assumption that intercropping is a useful approach to intensify and stabilize grain and fodder production in smallholder mixed crop-livestock farming systems in semi-arid environments.