Effects of Strip Intercropping and Organic Farming Systems on Quantity and Quality of Maize Yield in a Mediterranean Region of Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT Cowpea (Vigna sinensis L.) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) are traditionally intercropped with maize (Zea mays L.) by small-scale farmers in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. In this experiment, the performances of monoculture-organic (MO), strip in-tercropping-organic (IO), monoculture-conventional (MC), and strip intercropping-conventional (IC) farming systems were compared with respect to yield quantity and quality properties of sweet maize, and local cowpea and okra varieties for 2 years. The land equivalent ratios (LERs) calculated based on mean maximum and minimum yields of cowpeas and okras ranged between 0.94 and 1.25 for strip intercropping with sweet maize. There appeared to be no difference in mean yields of maize, cowpeas, and okras between the IO and IC systems and in mean maize yields between the MO and MC systems (P > 0.05). The LER value (0.99) of the IO farming system was higher than that (0.95) of IC farming system. The LER values close to one indicated that there were no significant differences in yield quantity and quality of the crops among the four farming systems. The findings revealed that strip intercropping alone or in combination with organic cropping may be equally profitable to monoculture and favored for sustainable farming if agricultural production costs including environmental externalities, such as environmental degradation and destruction were accounted for.