Meta-analysis dataset of soil extracellular enzyme activities in intercropping systems

Abstract

This dataset accompanies the meta-analysis entitled “Intercropping increases soil extracellular enzyme activity: A meta-analysis” Curtright and Tiemann (2021). Sustainable agriculture practices often aim to increase plant diversity. One means of doing this is through intercropping, where two or more plants are grown in the same field at the same time. Aboveground plant diversity may result in changes to the functioning of belowground microbial communities. Soil enzyme activities are frequently used as indicators of soil health and descriptors of soil nutrient cycling. While some studies have described the effect of intercropping on soil enzyme activities, results vary widely. To assess the overall effect that intercropping has on soil enzyme activities and describe the largest sources of variation, we performed a global meta-analysis of all studies found in the literature reporting enzyme activities in an intercropping system. Data were collected using exhaustive keyword searches on studies published through January 2021. We provide here a dataset of 969 observations across 100 studies. In addition to average enzyme activities in intercropping, metadata on environmental, edaphic, and agronomic properties were also collected.

Keywords

• Plant diversity
• Agriculture
• Belowground microbial community
• Nutrient cycling