Effects of intercropping sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) with millet, soybean and Moldavian balm on yield and quality in an organic production system

Abstract

ABSTRACT To study the effects of intercropping different sugar beet cultivars with soybean, Moldavian balm and proso millet in an organic production system on the yield and quality of sugar beet, a factorial experiment was conducted in 2016 and 2017 in West Azarbayjan, Iran. In 2016, the sugar beet-soybean intercropping resulted in the highest Na and α-amino-N concentrations in the sugar beet (2.384 and 2.879 meq. 100 g−1 beet respectively), but in 2017 the concentrations of these compounds were not significantly different between the intercropping patterns. For all intercropping patterns the land equivalent ratio (LER) was greater than one. In 2016, the highest LERT, based on white sugar yield, was obtained in the sugar beet–soybean intercropping system (1.27 for cv. Vaclav), but in 2017 the highest LERT based on white sugar yield, was obtained in sugar beet–Moldavian balm intercropping (1.24 for cv. Vaclav). Among the sugar beet cultivars, Ghazira had the highest sugar concentration and white sugar yield. It was concluded that the sugar beet–Moldavian balm intercropping system could be used in organic production systems to achieve high land productivity.