The Robustness of Land Equivalent Ratio as a Measure of Yield Advantage of Multi-Crop Systems over Monocultures

Abstract Land equivalent ratio (LER) is a most widely used indicator of yield advantage multi-crop farms over sole-crop farms, and usually measured using crop biomass per unit area. Most often, yields are compared between both systems the same In this paper, we demonstrate that although area plant different, LER remains invariant. As corollary, time land use efficiency, derived from LER, also remain unchanged when two different measures yields. We recommend estimation exact difficult due to complex planting designs, estimate much easier equally valid for its derivative indices.