Comparisons of total yield and OVPUA of different planting patterns.

MME = monoculture maize in even rows, MMW = monoculture maize in alternating wide and narrow rows, MA = alfalfa monoculture, IMA1 = maize intercropped with one row of alfalfa in the wide rows, IMA2 = maize intercropped with two rows of alfalfa in the wide rows. Values in the parentheses are yields based on the whole of the intercropping area, including the areas occupied by both maize and alfalfa, and are equal to the yields of maize or alfalfa divided by their respective area proportion. The intercropping area proportions of maize and alfalfa were respectively 76.9% and 23.1% in the IMA1 treatment, while the intercropping area ratios occupied by alfalfa and maize were 53.8% and 46.2% in the IMA2 treatment. Different letters in the same column following the values indicate significant difference between different cropping patterns, and * denotes significant difference between years (P Comparisons of total yield and OVPUA of different planting patterns.