On-farm agrivoltaic impacts on main crop yield: the roles of shade avoidance, cultivation practices, and varieties

Agrivoltaic systems, which integrate agricultural production with
photovoltaic energy generation on the same land, have garnered increasing
attention for their dual-use potential. Despite the potential, few studies
have addressed the variability in yield responses of major staple crops in
agrivoltaic systems and morphological and physiological traits underlying
this variability. This study investigated the yield performances and shade
avoidance responses of three key staple crops in Asia, namely rice,
soybean, and sweet potato, and five cultivars of sweet potato in
agrivoltaic systems. We also assessed the influence of cultivation
management practices, such as cultivar selection, weed control, and
micronutrient fertilization, using organically grown sweet potato as a
case study. Field experiments for rice, soybean, and sweet potato were
conducted in 2024, while organic sweet potato experiments were carried out
in 2023–2024; in 2023, four cultivars and three weed control timings were
tested; in 2024, five cultivars and micronutrient fertilization treatments
were evaluated. The data are the results of all the field experiments
analyzed in the paper and microclimate data collected by sensors in the
study sites. The file names of data correspond to Table S1 and details of
the statistical analysis using this data set can be found in Table S2.