Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala

Abstract We present an assessment of the extent, diversity, and nutritional contribution of the milpa through a quantitative analysis of data from a survey conducted in 989 small scale farm households in the Western Highlands of Guatemala (WHG). The milpa is a traditional agricultural system in whic...

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Autores principales:	Santiago Lopez-Ridaura, Luis Barba-Escoto, Cristian A. Reyna-Ramirez, Carlos Sum, Natalia Palacios-Rojas, Bruno Gerard
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/724ff665024745b0ab0d30a78e24f117
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:724ff665024745b0ab0d30a78e24f1172021-12-02T14:11:32ZMaize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala10.1038/s41598-021-82784-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/724ff665024745b0ab0d30a78e24f1172021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82784-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract We present an assessment of the extent, diversity, and nutritional contribution of the milpa through a quantitative analysis of data from a survey conducted in 989 small scale farm households in the Western Highlands of Guatemala (WHG). The milpa is a traditional agricultural system in which maize is intercropped with other species, such as common beans, faba beans, squashes or potatoes. Our study shows that more than two-thirds of the 1,205 plots recorded were under the milpa system, with a great diversity of crop combinations. As shown with the 357 plots for which specific yields were available, milpa systems present higher total productivity than monocropped maize, expressed as total energy yield of the harvested crops in the respective system, and were also better at providing the recommended daily allowances of fourteen essential nutrients, based on a Potential Nutrient Adequacy (PNA) indicator. Maize-bean-potato, maize-potato, and maize-bean-faba intercrops had the highest PNAs, and monocropped maize, the lowest. These results support the implementation of milpa systems tailored to different agro-ecologies in order to improve nutrition in the WHG and a variety of similar regions.Santiago Lopez-RidauraLuis Barba-EscotoCristian A. Reyna-RamirezCarlos SumNatalia Palacios-RojasBruno GerardNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Santiago Lopez-Ridaura Luis Barba-Escoto Cristian A. Reyna-Ramirez Carlos Sum Natalia Palacios-Rojas Bruno Gerard Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
description	Abstract We present an assessment of the extent, diversity, and nutritional contribution of the milpa through a quantitative analysis of data from a survey conducted in 989 small scale farm households in the Western Highlands of Guatemala (WHG). The milpa is a traditional agricultural system in which maize is intercropped with other species, such as common beans, faba beans, squashes or potatoes. Our study shows that more than two-thirds of the 1,205 plots recorded were under the milpa system, with a great diversity of crop combinations. As shown with the 357 plots for which specific yields were available, milpa systems present higher total productivity than monocropped maize, expressed as total energy yield of the harvested crops in the respective system, and were also better at providing the recommended daily allowances of fourteen essential nutrients, based on a Potential Nutrient Adequacy (PNA) indicator. Maize-bean-potato, maize-potato, and maize-bean-faba intercrops had the highest PNAs, and monocropped maize, the lowest. These results support the implementation of milpa systems tailored to different agro-ecologies in order to improve nutrition in the WHG and a variety of similar regions.
format	article
author	Santiago Lopez-Ridaura Luis Barba-Escoto Cristian A. Reyna-Ramirez Carlos Sum Natalia Palacios-Rojas Bruno Gerard
author_facet	Santiago Lopez-Ridaura Luis Barba-Escoto Cristian A. Reyna-Ramirez Carlos Sum Natalia Palacios-Rojas Bruno Gerard
author_sort	Santiago Lopez-Ridaura
title	Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
title_short	Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
title_full	Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
title_fullStr	Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
title_full_unstemmed	Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
title_sort	maize intercropping in the milpa system. diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the western highlands of guatemala
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/724ff665024745b0ab0d30a78e24f117
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Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala

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