{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T11:59:50Z","timestamp":1773403190863,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773360000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Portuguese funds through Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","award":["UID\/00329\/2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID\/00329\/2025"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a key cereal for food and forage security in arid and semi-arid regions, where climate change is intensifying drought stress and threatening sustainable crop production. Intercropping cereals with legumes is widely promoted as a nature-based solution to improve resource-use efficiency, nitrogen (N) cycling, and drylands\u2019 resilience. We evaluated the performance and interactions of a novel sorghum\u2013legume combination by intercropping sorghum with the drought-tolerant legume serradella (Ornithopus sativus) in a 10-week mesocosm experiment. Cropping systems (sorghum monocrop, serradella monocrop, and strip intercropping) were subjected to moderate or severe water stress, with or without frequent cutting. We investigated how intercropping influenced individual crop growth, N accumulation, and survival, and whether benefits at the plant level translated to the system level. Under severe water stress, sorghum maintained higher biomass and survival than serradella. Intercropping did not increase aboveground biomass or N content at the mesocosm level. However, individual sorghum plants in intercrops accumulated up to 80% more biomass and 100% more aboveground N than in monocropping. In contrast, serradella experienced reduced growth, N accumulation, and survival in intercrops. Our results reveal trade-offs in this intercrop under dryland stress, where individual crop benefits do not translate into system-level gains. Although limited to early growth and controlled conditions, the results provide valuable insights for designing resilient sorghum\u2013legume systems, including optimizing species density, intercrop configuration, and cutting regimes in drought-prone agroecosystems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su18062824","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T09:26:38Z","timestamp":1773393998000},"page":"2824","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Resilience and Trade-Offs in a Novel Sorghum\u2013Serradella Intercrop Under Simulated Dryland Stress Conditions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5421-4763","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Teresa","family":"Dias","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (CE3C) & Global Change and Sustainability Institute (CHANGE), Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Bloco C2, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Joana","family":"Rosado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (CE3C) & Global Change and Sustainability Institute (CHANGE), Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Bloco C2, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-3173-1453","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Irene","family":"Mandrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (CE3C) & Global Change and Sustainability Institute (CHANGE), Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Bloco C2, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0390-6169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucia","family":"Muggia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3100-463X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Cruz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (CE3C) & Global Change and Sustainability Institute (CHANGE), Faculdade de Ci\u00eancias, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Bloco C2, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17570","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.3c04942","article-title":"Sorghum: A multipurpose crop","volume":"71","author":"Zheng","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Agric. 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