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Plante de service

English translation: service-rendering plant / service plant

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Plante de service
English translation:service-rendering plant / service plant

13:07 Mar 5, 2021
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2021-03-09 13:54:17 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


French to English translations [PRO]
Agriculture
French term or phrase: Plante de service
En agriculture, une plante de service est une plante installée dans un agroécosystème pour profiter des services écosystémiques qu'elle fournit, mais qui n'est pas récoltée.

---> I need a English translation for the term "Plante de service".

Thank you!
Stephan Dasse (X)
United States
Local time: 11:11
service-rendering plant / service plant
Explanation:

NOT MY FIELD

LOW CONFIDENCE

Low number of matches in searches for "service plant", about 500.

Wikipedia, from where the quotation above is taken, does not offer a link to an English-language article.

The FAO does not appear to have a term in English.

Going on this definition

rapport plante de service V4 - Montpellier SupAgrowww.supagro.fr › fondation › wa_files › Rapport_L_SI...
PDF
Résumé. ***Le terme plante de service (PS) désigne les espèces implantées dans le but de « rendre un service »***

and the quotation in the question, I suggest the term "service-providing plant".

One good example of usage here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937801...

A respected source. Last paragraph of section 2.7:

"In summary, examples of complex forest management practices to enhance diversity and distribution of ***service-providing plant species***, to enhance soil quality and productivity, and topographical engineering to maximise ES, documented over many decades and across vast regions of the Amazon rainforest, provide robust evidence of the significant role of humans in modifying the Amazon to enhance the services it provides."

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Note added at 20 mins (2021-03-05 13:27:55 GMT)
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Oops, the text I posted uses the term "service-providing plant" -- THAT IS my answer!

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Note added at 21 mins (2021-03-05 13:29:24 GMT)
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Anybody who can construct a sentence like that one has my respect!!!
Selected response from:

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 04:11
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +3service-rendering plant / service plant
Conor McAuley
5service crop
ph-b (X)
3auxilliary plant
SafeTex
3 -1companion plant
Althea Draper
Summary of reference entries provided
Ref.
Rachel Fell

Discussion entries: 11





  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +3
service-rendering plant / service plant


Explanation:

NOT MY FIELD

LOW CONFIDENCE

Low number of matches in searches for "service plant", about 500.

Wikipedia, from where the quotation above is taken, does not offer a link to an English-language article.

The FAO does not appear to have a term in English.

Going on this definition

rapport plante de service V4 - Montpellier SupAgrowww.supagro.fr › fondation › wa_files › Rapport_L_SI...
PDF
Résumé. ***Le terme plante de service (PS) désigne les espèces implantées dans le but de « rendre un service »***

and the quotation in the question, I suggest the term "service-providing plant".

One good example of usage here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937801...

A respected source. Last paragraph of section 2.7:

"In summary, examples of complex forest management practices to enhance diversity and distribution of ***service-providing plant species***, to enhance soil quality and productivity, and topographical engineering to maximise ES, documented over many decades and across vast regions of the Amazon rainforest, provide robust evidence of the significant role of humans in modifying the Amazon to enhance the services it provides."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2021-03-05 13:27:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------


Oops, the text I posted uses the term "service-providing plant" -- THAT IS my answer!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2021-03-05 13:29:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------


Anybody who can construct a sentence like that one has my respect!!!

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 04:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: I don't think "rendering" is necessary. I also found "service crop" and "auxiliary plant", with a detailed definition here: http://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/PROSEA,_Introduction_to_...
36 mins
  -> Thanks Phil! But "auxiliary plant" has it on the numbers, over 100,000 relevant matches I think, you should post it as an answer.
neutral  Althea Draper: I can only find one reference to 'service-providing plant' other than the one you provide above, that hasn't derived from a literal translation from French. Yes, they provide a service, but that is not the common term for them in English.
4 hrs
  -> Fair enough, the numbers do matter, but there's more to it that that. My one source is a great one!
agree  ph-b (X): with philgoddard's "service crop" (see discussion).
4 hrs
agree  Cyril Tollari: service crop
5 hrs
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54 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
companion plant


Explanation:
From LES PLANTES DE SERVICE (Pays de la Loire Chambres d'agriculture)
https://pays-de-la-loire.chambres-agriculture.fr/fileadmin/u...

Qu’est-ce qu’une plante de service ?
Les plantes de service sont des espèces végétales cultivées sur la même parcelle que la
culture de rente, pouvant lui apporter certains avantages et n’ayant pas vocation à être
commercialisées. Elles peuvent être disposées en interculture et/ou pendant le développement de la culture, au sein de la parcelle ou en bordure. Les plantes de service peuvent permettre l’amélioration des caractéristiques du sol ou la gestion des bio-agresseurs.
L’amélioration des caractéristiques du sol par les engrais verts
Les plantes-indicatrices de la présence de bio-agresseurs
Les plantes-allélopathiques ou assainissantes et la gestion des bio-agresseurs du sol
Les plantes-pièges et les plantes-répulsives comme stratégies de détournement des bioagresseurs
Les plantes-floricoles, attractives pour les pollinisateurs et certains auxiliaires
Les plantes-nectarifères
Les plantes-à-pollen
Les plantes-relais ou réservoirs

In English these are called companion plants. Here is an explanation of companion planting and a list of companion plants and why they are used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants

From Farming News, https://farming.co.uk/news/a-little-help-from-my-friends:-co...
"Companion planting involves sowing two crop types near to one another, in order for one crop to thrive due to the beneficial effects of the other, or for the mutual benefit of both. Sown with other crop types, including maize in the global south, companions have been used as a diversion or deterrent to reduce the impact of insect pests on crops.

In Europe, research on sowing companion plants with oilseed rape has delivered promising results; combining oilseed rape with fast growing leguminous plants that can provide cover to shut out weeds and nutrients for the principal crop - but that won’t compete with it - has improved yields and could potentially carry other benefits. The approach is already becoming more common in France, where companions are sown alongside cash crops in late August or September; they aid growth and reduce weed pressure and then die off, allowing the main crop to flourish."



Example sentence(s):
  • Companion plants assist in the growth of others by attracting beneficial insects, repelling pests, or providing nutrients, shade, or support.
Althea Draper
United Kingdom
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Conor McAuley: Nice work! / Edit: following Phil's comment and more research, I disagree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants And the wording is not as direct as my final suggestion, anyway.
18 mins
  -> Stephan's source is a Wikipedia article which is still a draft - I don't think that you can wholly depend on its content for a definitive definition. I prefer to agree with Pays de la Loire Chambres d'agriculture and reputable sources.
disagree  philgoddard: This is a much narrower concept - plante compagnon/amie in French. Most importantly, Stephan's definition says they're not harvested, whereas companion plants often are. Service plants would include cover crops, for example.
1 hr
  -> Not all are harvested- trees used to shade coffee bushes, clover to attract cabbage root flies away from brassicas, Desmodium & Napier grass planted with maize to repel moths from the maize & attract the moths to lay their eggs on the grass not the maize
agree  Rachel Fell: or "companion cropping" - https://www.agricology.co.uk/field/blog/companion-crops-are-... https://www.frontierag.co.uk/blog/are-you-thinking-about-com...
1 hr
  -> Thanks Rachel
agree  writeaway: clear and pertinent refs
2 hrs
  -> Thanks Writeaway
disagree  ph-b (X): philgoddard is right. Companion plants are harvested, plantes de service are not meant to be. The examples you quote in your answer to him are not companion plants, but plantes de service. Your answer translates as plante compagne.
3 hrs
  ->  If you read the Pays de la Loire Chambres d'agriculture paper, it explains it perfectly, it also calls them "des espèces accompagnatrices", and refers to papers in English which call them companion plants.
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
auxilliary plant


Explanation:
Hello
I remembered a similar post and finally found "crop auxiliaries" in my database but that seems to mean rather insects (see my second reference)
But this did allow me to then find "auxiliary plant" (first reference)
My point being that "auxiliary" does seem to be the right word in general for this idea if you search for it and add "farming" or "crop" to avoid hits about plants as in factories


    https://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/PROSEA,_Introduction_to_Auxiliary_plants
    https://dicoagroecologie.fr/en/encyclopedia/crop-auxiliaries/
SafeTex
France
Local time: 04:11
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  ph-b (X): I'm afraid that's too general: companion plants are auxiliary plants as well.
12 hrs
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1 day 4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
plante de service
service crop


Explanation:
[This is what philgoddard suggests in his comment to Conor's answer and what Cyril mentions in the discussion. I would have agreed with this answer if either of them had posted it. I think it's important that this answer should appear clearly on this page now that another answer has been chosen.]

En agriculture, une plante de service est une plante installée dans un agroécosystème pour profiter des services écosystémiques qu'elle fournit, mais qui n'est pas récoltée.

It would have been more appropriate to write … une plante installée dans un agroécosystème pour que celui-ci profite des services qu’elle fournit…, but the definition is still valid and will help find the right translation: a plant that is used because it benefits others near it and that is not harvested.

Note that there is no mention of any mutual benefit, which is one of the main differences with companion plants: these do bring benefits as service crops do, but they also benefit from their neighbours, which service crops don’t.

Another notable difference is that service crops have no commercial purpose when used as such (which doesn’t mean that some of these plants could not be used for commercial or other reasons in a different context): “Service crops (commonly known as cover crops) are plants grown in agroecosystems for the ecosystem services they provide rather than a harvestable product.”
https://www.jswconline.org/content/74/4/389
On the other hand, companion plants have other uses: any gardener will know that leeks and strawberries are excellent companion plants and of course they can both be used when they're ready. But what on earth (no pun intended) can one do with clover?

Interestingly, the plants that Althea mentioned in her comment to Conor’s answer are not harvested and they don’t benefit from the other plants near them. But they do help those that they surround. These are service crops, not companion plants. What Althea presented as examples of companion plants were actually excellent examples of what service crops are and do.

This document from the US Agricultural Research Service shows how service crops are used in practice: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=00f3100...
Note that there is no mention of companion crops.


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Note added at 1 day 5 hrs (2021-03-06 18:33:57 GMT)
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Read (last line): "Note that there is no mention of companion plants."

ph-b (X)
France
Local time: 04:11
Native speaker of: French
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Reference comments


5 hrs
Reference: Ref.

Reference information:
Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is the planting of different crops in proximity for any of a number of different reasons, including pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial insects, maximizing use of space, and to otherwise increase crop productivity.[1] Companion planting is a form of polyculture.

Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in cottage gardens in England and forest gardens in Asia, and thousands of years ago in Mesoamerica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting

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Note added at 8 hrs (2021-03-05 21:59:11 GMT)
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The ultimate companion crop is a diverse herbal ley and it works wonderfully well with mob grazing, since animals love to eat it. It’s much more palatable, so voluntary intakes are higher.

https://www.agricology.co.uk/field/blog/companion-crops-are-...

There are many reasons to start companion planting:

Pest prevention: A companion plant might protect its partner from pests that are typically attracted to it.
Improved soil fertility: Nitrogen-fixing plants can help our non-nitrogen fixing plants.
A natural trellis: tall plants can help provide scaffolding for climbing plants.
Regulating shade: low shade-loving plants can get protection from tall sun-loving plants.
Weed control: you can discourage weeds from growing around upright, thin plants by planting wide ground-covering plants.

https://www.unsustainablemagazine.com/who-needs-pesticides-w...

Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
disagree  ph-b (X): The question is about plantes de service, not about plantes compagnes. A farmer or a gardener will tell you the difference./I've not used "service plant" (in E.) and check again the lack of mutual benefits in service plants.
14 mins
  -> I don't think that "service plant" is used much in English, whereas "companion plant(ing)" is, and it covers pest control, soil health and fodder in agricultureand
agree  writeaway
1 hr
  -> Thank you writeaway - hadn't noticed Althea had also given the Wiki ref.
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