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Yield Performance, Resource-Use Efficiency, and Economic Profitability from Adopting Soybean-Based
Hassan Shehryar Yasin1,2, Muhammad Ali Raza2, Lingyang Feng3
1The College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Soybean intercropping with cotton, maize, or sugarcane enhances land productivity and farm profits in arid, irrigated conditions. This strategy shows potential for improved resource use efficiency and increased net income for farmers.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Science
- Agronomy
- Sustainable Agriculture
Background:
- Legume intercropping offers improved land-use efficiency and profitability but faces limited adoption in intensive systems due to lack of data.
- Agronomic performance, input implications, and economic feasibility of intercropping under farmer-field conditions require further documentation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the agronomic and economic performance of soybean-based intercropping systems under arid-irrigated conditions.
- To compare intercropping systems with sole cropping for yield, nutrient uptake, land equivalent ratio (LER), profitability, and labor.
Main Methods:
- A four-year field study (2021-2024) compared four sole cropping systems (cotton, maize, sugarcane, soybean) with three additive soybean intercropping systems (cotton/soybean, maize/soybean, sugarcane/soybean).
- Assessed crop yield, dry matter, nutrient uptake, LER for land (LERL), nitrogen (LERN), phosphorus (LERP), economic profitability, and labor requirements.
Main Results:
- Intercropped yields ranged from 59% to 88% of sole-crop yields, while total LER values indicated significant land and nutrient use advantages (LERL: 1.33-1.71, LERN: 1.35-1.68, LERP: 1.25-1.64).
- Soybean intercropping demonstrated theoretical potential to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer needs by 26-40% and 20-39%, respectively.
- Net income increased by 29-154% with intercropping, with sugarcane/soybean yielding the highest net income ($2937 ha-1), alongside an 18-28% increase in labor demand.
Conclusions:
- Additive soybean-based intercropping, especially cotton/soybean and sugarcane/soybean, improves land productivity, nutrient-use efficiency indicators, and farm profitability in arid-irrigated environments.
- The study highlights the potential of intercropping as a diversification strategy for smallholders in resource-intensive systems.
- Further multi-location studies are recommended to validate fertilizer-saving potential and confirm broader applicability.
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