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Abstract
Intercropping maize and forage cowpea is a widely proposed strategy to improve land use efficiency, and maximize the economic value of the farming system, especially in developing countries with restricted resources. The current study was carried out during the successive summers of 2020 and 2021 in Northern Egypt. The main objective was to evaluate the effect of three N schedules (NS1, NS2, NS3), when three different maize–cowpea intercropping patterns (IP1, IP2, IP3) were applied, on the grain yield of maize, forage yield and quality of forage cowpea. In addition, yield gain and land use efficiency were evaluated using the land equivalent ratio (LER) and dry matter equivalent ratio (DMER) indices. Results revealed that the intercropping patterns that provided wider spacings for the component crops and reduced the competition between them, mainly IP3, resulted in the best performances for the two crops. This was clear for maize ear and grain yields, 100-grain weight and harvest index, in addition to cowpea fresh and dry forage yields, crude protein and non-fiber carbohydrates of the three cuts. Regarding the applied N schedules, NS1 which included the application of a N starter dose with sowing proved to be the most efficient schedule that led to the best performance for both crops. Maize produced 9.07 t ha−1 grain yield under IP3 and NS1. In addition, the application of IP3 resulted in the highest significant cowpea dry forage yield (DFY), with the highest crude protein (CP) content. The DFY of cuts 1, 2, and 3 amounted to 1.27, 0.45, and 0.24 t ha−1, while the CP content for the three respective cuts reached 159.49, 157.96, and 148.91 g kg−1. Nonetheless, NS1 produced a reasonable amount of DFY with high CP content. It is recommended to follow the third proposed intercropping pattern (IP3) and to include a nitrogen starter dose (NS1) in the fertilization scheme to ensure highest productivity from the intercropped maize and forage cowpea.
Highlights
Introduction iationsIntercropping, as a mean of agricultural intensification, has proved to be a vital practice in increasing land use efficiency and, uplifting the yield gain and increasing the economic value of the agricultural system
Maximum significant number of ears per plot was reached with IP2 (26.44), which represented 42.46 and 23.96% increase over the number of ears achieved with IP1 and IP3
The current study provided practical evidence that, when properly managed, the interspace in widely spaced crops such as maize could be used to grow short legumes such as forage cowpea without sacrificing the final maize grain yield
Summary
Introduction iationsIntercropping, as a mean of agricultural intensification, has proved to be a vital practice in increasing land use efficiency and, uplifting the yield gain and increasing the economic value of the agricultural system. Cereal–legume intercropping is a widely proposed strategy to develop a sustainable food and forage production system [2,3] to replenish the food and feed gaps, especially in developing countries with restricted agricultural inputs [4,5]. The integration of both cereals and legumes in the same cropping system gives many advantages to the farming practice, such as reducing the damage caused by pests, diseases and weeds, securing better financial stability for the farmers and improving soil fertility [6,7,8].
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