A strategy to deal with climate change: Intercropping system has attracted increasing interest.

Rainfed agriculture is conducted on 80% of the world's arable land and provides 60% of the world's food, therefore playing an important role in ensuring food security for a growing population. Climate change impacts are predicted to be harmful for rainfed agriculture all over the world, which will face future yield reductions of up to 30%, so more attention should be given to the efficient use of agricultural water in agricultural production, especially under rainfed conditions. Intercropping is a traditional sustainable planting system having advantages of increased production and improved yield stability, which is widely valued and has attracted increasing interest as a strategy to deal with climate change. Clarify the water consumption process of the intercropping system, especially the complementary and competition mechanism of soil water between species, is necessary for optimizing the field management and improving the water use efficiency of the intercropping system. The Loess Plateau is a typical rainfed farming area in northern China, the limitation of water resources and soil erosion are two major problems for efficient agricultural production. Therefore, we focuses on water consumption process of the intercropping system on the Loess Plateau, and the research results can provide theoretical support for the healthy and sustainable development of agriculture in rainfed area.