Crop Diversity Strategies for Enhanced Weed Suppression, Forage Productivity, and Resource Use Efficiency in Marginal Grasslands

Global agricultural systems are experiencing unprecedented pressures, particularly regarding productivity, weed infestation, and resource use efficiency, which are intensified in marginal environments such as saline-alkali grasslands. Conventional monoculture approaches frequently rely on chemical inputs, leading to deteriorating soil health, biodiversity loss, and compromised ecosystem sustainability. Alternative strategies employing crop diversity, including intercropping, cover cropping, and crop rotation, have emerged as robust approaches to address these critical agricultural challenges.

Crop diversity strategies involve integrating multiple crop species, either simultaneously or sequentially, to leverage ecological benefits such as weed suppression, improved soil fertility, and enhanced productivity. Grass-legume, grass-cereal, and multi-species intercrops effectively suppress weeds, enhance nutrient cycling, and increase forage yields, substantially reducing the dependence on chemical inputs. These diverse cropping systems also demonstrate improved resilience to environmental stresses, including soil salinity and drought, thus promoting sustainable forage production in challenging environments.

Despite these potential advantages, there remains an insufficient understanding of the underlying ecological interactions, optimal species combinations, spatial arrangements, and management practices across varying agroecological contexts. Addressing these knowledge gaps is crucial for the practical adoption and optimization of crop diversity strategies.

This Research Topic seeks to deepen our understanding of crop diversity strategies specifically aimed at weed suppression, forage productivity enhancement, and improved nutrient-use efficiency in marginal grassland systems. Contributions are invited to address the following core questions:

• How can crop diversity systems be optimally designed for maximum weed suppression, forage productivity, and resource use efficiency?

• What ecological mechanisms, such as resource complementarity, allelopathy, and niche partitioning, underpin the success of diverse cropping systems?

• How do species selection, planting ratios, and spatial arrangements influence crop performance, soil fertility, and productivity under marginal or stressed conditions?

• What practical management practices effectively maximize complementarity while minimizing competitive interactions?

• Can diverse cropping systems sustainably enhance system resilience and productivity under saline-alkali and other environmental stress conditions?

• How do crop diversity strategies integrate effectively into existing grazing and livestock management practices?

We welcome original research articles, reviews, meta-analyses, and synthesis papers focusing on:

• Optimal species combinations and planting configurations for weed suppression and productivity.

• Impact of crop diversity on nutrient cycling, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus efficiency.

• Soil health improvements and soil-microbe-plant interactions within diverse cropping systems.

• Adaptive management approaches integrating crop diversity into grazing practices.

• Crop diversity strategies for enhancing system resilience and adaptation to climate change.

• Mechanistic insights into above- and below-ground interactions and resource dynamics in diverse systems.

• Economic and environmental assessments of optimized crop diversity systems.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: crop diversity strategies, weed suppression, forage productivity, resource use efficiency, marginal grasslands

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.