Cereal-legume intercropping to stabilise yields in tropical regions: evaluation of the STICS soil-crop model

This volume follows on from the Rencontres Francophone Légumineuses (RFL) held in March 2024, organized by CIRAD, INRAE, Terres Inovia and Terres Univia, and co-organized by the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA). This unique event brings together all those involved in development, the supply chains and research into grain and forage legumes. It's an opportunity to exchange views, share knowledge and accelerate innovation around legumes. The RFLs focus on seed, forage and woody legumes, and aim to cover the diversity of production systems, as well as the diversity of uses: food, feed and non-food. Pulses are a major lever for meeting the global challenges of climate change and food and nutritional security. All over the world, they play a strategic role, providing nutritional benefits and ensuring protein and food sovereignty. The many species of pulses also represent a formidable breeding ground for food innovation.

International audience

英语. The ability of cereal-legume intercropping to increase and stabilise yields in tropical climates has not been tested over a wide range of environments. We evaluated the STICS crop model and simulated a 20-year historical climate series for sole crops and cereal-legume intercropping on sites with contrasting climates in tropical regions. During the evaluation, the model simulated yields accurately except in the case of very low-yielding legumes in intercropping. The simulations then suggested that intercropping increased protein productivity and yield stability compared with cereal sole cropping, although these benefits diminished as nitrogen fertilisation increased. Recently published work on improvements to the model will enable these promising results to be consolidated.