Data from: Abiotic and biotic context dependency of perennial crop yield

Perennial crops in agricultural systems can increase sustainability and
the magnitude of ecosystem services, but yield may depend upon biotic
context, including soil mutualists, pathogens and cropping diversity.
These biotic factors themselves may interact with abiotic factors such as
drought. We tested whether perennial crop yield depended on soil microbes,
water availability and crop diversity by testing monocultures and mixtures
of three perennial crop species: a novel perennial grain (intermediate
wheatgrass—Thinopyrum intermedium-- that produces the perennial grain
Kernza®), a potential perennial oilseed crop (Silphium intregrifolium),
and alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Perennial crop performance depended upon
both water regime and the presence of living soil, most likely the
arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in the whole soil inoculum from a long
term perennial monoculture and from an undisturbed native remnant prairie.
Specifically, both Silphium and alfalfa strongly benefit from AM fungi.
The presence of native prairie AM fungi had a greater benefit to Silphium
in dry pots and alfalfa in wet pots than AM fungi present in the perennial
monoculture soil. Kernza did not benefit from AM fungi. Crop mixtures that
included Kernza overyielded, but overyielding depended upon inoculation.
Specifically, mixtures with Kernza overyielded most strongly in sterile
soil as Kernza compensated for poor growth of Silphium and alfalfa. This
study identifies importance of soil biota and the context dependence of
benefits of native microbes and the overyielding of mixtures in perennial
crops.