Increasing yield of several varieties of zero-tillage sorghum through additive intercropping with soybean on permanent raised-beds

Abstract

Sorghum is getting popular because of its potential use as food, feed, and bio-ethanol production. However, there are competing interests for growing sorghum because rice and maize are two most important crops in Indonesia, so intercropping could be a solution. This study aimed to examine the effects of additive intercropping several varieties of sorghum with soybean grown during a dry season on permanent raised-beds mostly used to grow rice. The experiment was established on farmers’ paddy fields in West Lombok (Indonesia) from June to September 2022, which was arranged according to Split Plot design, with two treatment factors, namely sorghum varieties (V1= Numbu, V2= Samurai-1, V3= Super-1) and intercropping (I0= monocropped sorghum, I1= additive intercropping with soybean). The results indicated that additive intercropping with soybean relay-planted between rows of sorghum significantly increased growth and yield of sorghum but sorghum varieties showed significant differences only in weight of 100 grains. However, there was a significant interaction effect on leaf number prior to anthesis and at seed filling stage and growth rate of leaf number. Among the varieties, Numbu showed a significant and highest increase (16%, equivalent to 477 kg/ha) in dry grain yield due to additive intercropping with soybean.