Stereoscopic Planting Pattern of Kernel-used Apricot and Medicinal Plants in the Loess Drought Hilly Region in West Henan Province

Objective) To guarantee the high yield of quality kernel-used apricot and improve the economic benefits of farmers in the loess drought hilly region in West Henan Province.(Method) The stereoscopic planting pattern with eight cultivars of medicinal plants and three cultivars of kemel-used apricot was adopted to study the effect of different planting pattems on the growth, flowering, fruiting, disease and pest injury as well as the yield of the medicinal plants, (Result) To the same apricot species, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. and Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. produced weak impact on its growth, but Vaccaria segetalis ( Neck. ) Garcke and Malva rotundifolia L. had obvious influence on its growth and development. The same cultivars of medicinal plant had strong inference on the growths of kernel-apricot cultivars "Yiwofeng" less strong influence on ' Longwang-mao", and the weakest influence on "Chaoren"; the reproductive indexes of the three kernel-apricot cultivars were influenced by the same Chinese medicinal material followed the decrease scope of "Yiwofeng" <" Chaoren" < ' Longwangmao". Un der the stereoscopic planting pattern, as the canopy density of kernel-used apricot increased, the weight and medicinal yield of the herbal plants gradually decreased, most of the medicinal plant cultivarsgrew well under the canopy density of 0.5 or below, while the growth and yield of Pinellia ternata(Thunb.) Breit. were not influenced under the canopy density of 0.6. (Conclusion) The stereoscopic planting pattern of kernel -used apricot and traditional Chinese medicinal plants should select the apricot cultivars with strong growth vigor and those short herbal plants species.