Table 1.

Soil water sharing and compensation between maize and pea strips under different water availabilities.

Water availability	Soil water differences (mm) between the two strips in the M/P system				Soil water differences (mm) between the two strips in the PM/P system				Soil water sharing and compensational effect
	2009	2010	2011	Mean	2009	2010	2011	Mean	2009	2010	2011	Mean
During the co-growth period									Amounts of water competed between the two strips (mm)a
Deficit	32.6ac	30.6a	28.1a	30.4a	8.9a	8.4a	7.2a	8.2a	23.6a	22.1ab	20.8b	22.2ab
Sub-optimal	29.1a	30.2a	27.3ab	28.8a	4.1b	5.8b	2.9c	4.3b	24.9a	24.4a	24.3a	24.5a
Optimal	23.9b	25.4b	24.8b	24.7b	3.4b	5.3b	4.5b	4.4b	20.5b	20.1b	20.2b	20.3b
During the period after pea harvest									Amounts of water compensated for maize from pea strip (mm)b
Deficit	6.3a	5.4a	4.2a	5.3a	−25.9b	−38.2a	−37.0a	−33.7a	32.2b	43.6a	41.3a	39.1a
Sub-optimal	3.9b	2.2b	1.5b	2.5b	−33.1a	−33.5b	−35.7a	−34.1a	37.1a	35.7b	37.4a	36.7ab
Optimal	1.6c	1.2b	1.4b	1.4b	−29.0ab	−35.0ab	−29.8b	−31.3a	30.8b	36.3b	31.3b	32.7b

The soil water sharing was determined during the co-growth period, whereas the water compensation was after pea harvest. The differences in soil water content (mm) were the total amount in the 0–110 cm soil profile, at Wuwei Experimental Station, China, 2009–2010.

^aWater sharing = (differences in soil water content between the two strips in the M/P system)–(differences in soil water content between the two strips in the PM/P system), modified from Chen et al.³⁸.

^bSoil water compensation for the maize plants from the pea strips after pea harvest.

^cDifferent letters in the same column in each section denote significant differences at P < 0.05.