Growing vegetables
Javad Hamzei; Masud Khishvand
Abstract
Introduction
Due to the limits of the conventional agricultural system, intercropping is important in terms of production sustainability. Intercropping plays an important role in increasing production and performance stability to improve the use of resources and environmental factors. Spinach ...
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Introduction
Due to the limits of the conventional agricultural system, intercropping is important in terms of production sustainability. Intercropping plays an important role in increasing production and performance stability to improve the use of resources and environmental factors. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is an important leafy vegetable, of which the leaves and tender shoots are consumed fresh or processed. Spinach is native to Iran. Spinach contains different flavonoids that function as antioxidants and anticancer agents. Also, spinach may be used in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. It is an annual plant and as well as chickpea, spinach is grown as both an early spring and late fall crop in order to have growth at the coolest parts of the season. Spinach seed yield varies based on the climatic conditions, optimum sowing date and chose of the best planting pattern. Considering that the intercropping of this plant has not been studied with legumes such as chickpe, this experiment was designed to determine the possibility of intercropping spinach with chickpea using agronomical and economical indices, as well as determining the best planting pattern.
Materials and Methods
In order to investigate agronomic traits, yield and economical indices in spinach intercropping with chickpea, an experiment was carried out as a randomized complete block design with four treatments and three replications in 2017-18 growing season in Tuyserkan city, Hamedan province. In this city, spinach is mainly cultivated for seed production. Experimental treatments included additive intercropping of 20% chickpea with spinach, replacement intercropping of 60% spinach + 40% chickpea and pure stand of spinach and chickpea. Plant height, number of branches per plant, number of seeds per plant, 1000 seed weight, grain yield and biological yield in spinach, as well as plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 1000 seed weight, grain yield and biological yield in chickpea were measured. To compare the advantages of intercropping of spinach with chickpea, the land equivalent ratio (LER), dry matter equivalent ratio (DMER), system productivity index (SPI), competitive ratio (CR), aggressivity (AG), actual yield loss (AYL ), relative value total (RVT), monetary advantage index (MAI) and intercropping advantage (IA) were calculated and evaluated. SAS 9.1 software were used for analysis of variance (ANOVA) calculations. The difference between the means was evaluated by the least significant difference (LSD) method at the level of 5% probability.
Results and Discussion
Plant height, number of branches per plant, 1000 grain weight and grain and biological yields of spinach were significantly affected by intercropping. The highest plant height and the lowest number of branches per spinach plant were obtained from the replacement intercropping. Additive intercropping and pure stand of spinach without significant difference had the lowest plant height and the highest number of branches per plant. The highest 1000 grain weight and grain yield of spinach were associated with the additive intercropping method. However, in terms of biological yield, the pure stand of spinach showed the highest results. Notably, there were no significant differences between the treatments of additive intercropping and pure stand of spinach concerning grain and biological yield of spinach. On the other hand, in chickpeas plants, intercropping had a notable impact on various parameters. Specifically, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, 1000 grain weight, and both grain and biological yields were affected by the intercropping method. Among these, the additive intercropping treatment resulted in the highest plant height, while it had the lowest number of branches and number of pods per chickpeas plant.The highest 1000 grain weight and grain yield of spinach were related to the additive intercropping. Pure stand of spinach had the maximum biological yield. Treatments of additive intercropping and pure stand of spinach were not significantly different in terms of grain and biological yield of spinach. In chickpeas plant, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, 1000 grain weight, grain and biological yields were affected by intercropping. The highest plant height and the lowest number of branches and number of pods per chickpeas plant were obtained at the treatment of additive intercropping. Maximum grain and biological yields of chickpea were belonged to the pure stand of chickpea. Spinach and chickpea were dominant and recessive plants, respectively. Evaluation of the economical indices also showed the advantages of spinach intercropping with chickpea at both intercropping design (replacemet and additive intercropping). So that the highest values for land equivalent ratio, dry matter equivalent ratio, system productivity index, actual yield loss, relative value total and monetary advantage index were achieved at additive intercropping system. But, the lowest values for these indices (1.13, 1.06, 1.20 and 1321 for LER, DMER, RVT and MAI, respectively) were revealed at replacement intercropping.
Conclusion
Overall, the results indicate that chickpea is a suitable plant for intercropping with spinach. So that the intercropping of 20% chickpea with spinach improved the yield performance of spinach and land-use efficiency and can lead to the greatest economical profit.
Ehsan Ebrahimi; Alireza Bagheri; Faranak Nurbakhsh
Abstract
Introduction: Leek, Allium porrum L. is one of the most important vegetables in Europe. Open canopy up to harvest in leek field raises problem in weed management and increase nutrient leaching during vegetation period. Intercropping in leek fields causes better weed control along with the other benefits ...
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Introduction: Leek, Allium porrum L. is one of the most important vegetables in Europe. Open canopy up to harvest in leek field raises problem in weed management and increase nutrient leaching during vegetation period. Intercropping in leek fields causes better weed control along with the other benefits of this type of method. Intercropping leek with White clover Trifolium repens L. as a cover crop is considered, because it is known to have high ability to fix nitrogen in the soil biologically and prevent nutrient leaching during the growing season. In this study, intercropping ofleek A. porrum L. and white clover T. repens L. is evaluated.
Materials and Methods This experiment was conducted in 2011 and located at the research farm Hessian State Estate Frankenhausen, Germany (51° 27′ 0″ N, 9° 25′ 0″ E),249 meter above sea level. The goal of this experiment was based on comparison between leek in intercrop system with white clover (The factors included different date of sowing composed early undersowing, sowed right after transplanting leeks and late undersowing, one month later) and leek in monoculture system. In addition, different cover crop management by cutting and without cutting the clovers has been considered. In monoculture system, applying hand weeding and no-weeding was evaluated. Therefore, this experiment consisted of 6 treatments (1 and 2: early undersowing of clovers with and without cut, 3 and 4: late undersowing of clovers with and without cut, 5 and 6: monoculture with and without hand weeding) with three replications and performed as a complete randomized block design. Analysis of variance, Duncan tests (P≤0.05) and orthogonal analysis wasapplied for comparison between the treatments.
Results and Discussion: The comparison between treatments with cover crop indicated a significant difference (P ≤ 0.01) among treatments with early and late sowing time for clovers. Treatments with late sowed clovers (with and without cut) produced significantly higher dry matter in comparison with treatments with early sowed clovers (with or without cut). It seems late existence of clover at the early stages of development created more dry matterin leeks. Comparison indicated that treatments with clover but without cut, significantly created more dry matterin comparison with treatments, which clover cut. Existence of clover as mulch prevents weed growth and also biological Nitrogen fixation can be a reason for such observation. The results indicated that stem diameter for leeks in monoculture system and without hand weeding was significantly less than other treatments. Moreover, leek diameter in monoculture treatments with hand weeding was one of the greatest values. The largest amount of leek diameter was created in treatments with late sowing of clover, 48 days after transplanting leeks, whether clover has or not been cut. It seems despite all benefits of clover in Nitrogen fixation and prevention of weeds, that clover itself can be a considerable competitor with leeks as well.
Conclusions: The results of this experiment indicated that intercropping leek and clover can have a positive effect on dry matterproduction and quality of leek with proper timing of undersowing. We should consider that weeding was not possible for the whole growing season. Therefore, weeding at the beginning of the growing season and applying late cover crop could create more benefits of intercropping with a few competing effects on leek. In fact, weeding at the beginning of growing season establishes a good potential for nutrient absorption during the critical primary growing period of leek.
