Photosynthetic efficiency, gas exchange and yield of castor bean intercropped with peanut in semiarid Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT To evaluate the photosynthetic efficiency, gas exchange and yield of castor bean intercropped with peanut under Brazilian semiarid conditions, a field experiment was set up with six treatments and four replicates arranged in a randomized block design. The experiment consisted of the cultivation of castor bean ‘BRS Energia’ in a monocrop system and intercropped with peanut ‘BR 1’. One treatment was formed by monocropped castor bean and the others by the castor bean intercropped with peanut with different intercrop establishment times, i.e. peanut sowing times (0, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days after castor bean sowing). The castor bean photosynthetic and carboxylation efficiencies were higher in the intercrop system with a 25-day interval between sowings. Peanut sowing at 0 to 10 days after castor bean sowing in the intercropped system affected the photochemical efficiency of the latter, which resulted in its yield reduction. Larger intervals between sowing of peanut ‘BR-1’ and of the main crop increased castor bean yield in the intercrop system.