Intercropping with aromatic plants enhances tomato productivity and disease resilience through elevating soil...

Intercropping, the practice of planting two or more crops in the same space, can fully utilize the potential of introducing aromatic plants to reduce pests and diseases, improve nutrient utilization efficiency and productivity. Introducing aromatic plants into intercropping systems releases volatile organic compounds that can regulate soil microbial communities, enrich beneficial microorganisms, help suppress pathogens, and enhance plant health.

We compared tomato monocropping with intercropping systems intercropping and four aromatic plants - fennel, garland chrysanthemum, coriander, and chive - as well as a non-aromatic vegetable, pakchoi. These systems were evaluated with and without beneficial microorganisms to assess effects on tomato growth, soil properties, and bacterial wilt resistance. The tomato-chive and tomato-coriander combinations achieved disease control rates of 69.70% and 57.58%, respectively, demonstrating improved disease resistance. Conversely, intercropping with pakchoi suppressed tomato growth and increased disease incidence. There were positive effects of garland chrysanthemum and coriander on tomato yield and quality. The former raised yield by 11.56% and elevated soluble solids, protein, and invertase. With tomato-coriander treatment yielded 10.88% more than the control group, with significant increases in titratable acidity and lycopene content. Intercropping with aromatic plants significantly improved soil properties, particularly by increasing the activities of acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and soil dehydrogenase. Furthermore, beneficial microorganisms in intercropping systems further promoted crop growth, yield, and soil enzyme activities.

Our results emphasize a positive correlation between increases in soil nutrients, organic matter, and enzyme activities in tomato-aromatic crop intercropping systems and improvements in tomato yield and quality. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.