Comparative Advantage of Productivity and Soil Properties on Corn-Soybean Intercropping to Monoculture System in Marginal Dry Land of Gunungkidul

Abstract

Most of agricultural land in Gunungkidul Regency is in the form of dry land. The appropriate cropping pattern in term of optimizing land in secondary planting season is intercropping system. The aim of this study was to show the comparison between corn or soybean monoculture with corn-soybean intercropping of two different varieties on growth, yield, LER value and soil properties on dry land of Gunungkidul. This study was conducted on Kampung, Ngawen, Gunungkidul. Soybean seeds were planted 14 days before corn seeds to avoid hindering the irradiation of soybean plant. Soybean seeds were planted 5 rows between two rows of corn with a spacing 40 cm x 20 cm. The soybean varieties were used Dena-1 and Grobogan, while corn varieties used Pioneer 35 and Bisi-2. The planting distance of corn were used the legowo system, that was (65-50) cm x 30 cm. Results of the study was shown that the highest corn productivity was achieved by Pioneer 35 variety, which intercropped with Dena-1 variety, that yielded 6.73 ton. ha−1 dry corn and 1.65 ton.ha−1 soybean seeds.. This yield was lower 9.11% and 10.13%, respectively compare to monoculture system on the same corn or soybean cultivation. The advantage of intercropping corn-soybean system was added biomass of soybean, which can be used as animal feed. The chemical soil properties of corn-soybean intercropping increased on N total about 33.33%, P and K available increased 25.71% and 23.62%, respectively. Soil CEC increased about 19.53%, while soil pH did not significantly different compared to monoculture.