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Suppression of the invasive plant mile-a-minute (Mikania micrantha) by local crop sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) by means of higher growth rate and competition for soil nutrients

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, January 2015
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Title
Suppression of the invasive plant mile-a-minute (Mikania micrantha) by local crop sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) by means of higher growth rate and competition for soil nutrients
Published in
BMC Ecology and Evolution, January 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12898-014-0033-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Shicai Shen, Gaofeng Xu, David Roy Clements, Guimei Jin, Aidong Chen, Fudou Zhang, Hisashi Kato-Noguchi

Abstract

BackgroundThere are a variety of ways of increasing crop diversity to increase agricultural sustainability and in turn having a positive influence on nearby natural ecosystems. Competitive crops may provide potent management tools against invasive plants. To elucidate the competitive mechanisms between a sweet potato crop (Ipomoea batatas) and an invasive plant, mile-a-minute (Mikania micrantha), field experiments were carried out in Longchuan County of Yunnan Province, Southwest China, utilizing a de Wit replacement series. The trial incorporated seven ratios of sweet potato and mile-a-minute plants in 25 m2 plots.ResultsIn monoculture, the total biomass, biomass of adventitious root, leafstalk length, and leaf area of sweet potato were all higher than those of mile-a-minute, and in mixed culture the plant height, branch, leaf, stem node, adventitious root, flowering and biomass of mile-a-minute were suppressed significantly (P¿<¿0.05). The relative yield (RY) of mile-a-minute and sweet potato was less than 1.0 in mixed culture, indicating that intraspecific competition was less than interspecific competition. The competitive balance index of sweet potato demonstrated a higher competitive ability than mile-a-minute. Except pH, other soil nutrient contents of initial soil (CK) were significantly higher than those of seven treatments. The concentrations of soil organic matter, total N, total K, available N, available P, available K, exchange Ca, exchange Mg, available Mn, and available B were significantly greater (P¿<¿0.05) in mile-a-minute monoculture soil than in sweet potato monoculture soil, and were reduced by the competition of sweet potato in the mixture.ConclusionsEvidently sweet potato has a competitive advantage in terms of plant growth characteristics and greater absorption of soil nutrients. Thus, planting sweet potato is a promising technique for reducing infestations of mile-a-minute, providing weed management benefits and economic returns from harvest of sweet potatoes. This study also shows the potential value of replacement control methods which may apply to other crop-weed systems or invaded natural ecosystems.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 51 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 51 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 8 16%
Student > Bachelor 6 12%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 12%
Student > Master 5 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 4 8%
Other 6 12%
Unknown 16 31%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 37%
Environmental Science 7 14%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 4 8%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 4%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 2%
Other 3 6%
Unknown 15 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 January 2015.
All research outputs
#22,756,649
of 25,371,288 outputs
Outputs from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#3,511
of 3,714 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#309,130
of 361,110 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Ecology and Evolution
#66
of 72 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,371,288 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,714 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 72 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.