The productivity and overall benefits of faba bean-sugar beet intercropping systems interacted with foliar-applied nutrients

Abstract

Intercropping systems are gaining popularity in developed countries as people become more conscious of the environmental damage caused by the intensive use of nonrenewable resources. Two field experiments were conducted for evaluating three faba bean intercropping systems (FISs) with 100% sugar beet (S-Sole) as follows: 12.5% (FIS12.5%), 25% (FIS25%), and 37.5% (FIS37.5%) of faba bean in addition to the sole faba bean (F-Sole) and sugar beet (S-Sole) under foliar nutrients (FN) with boron (B), zinc (Zn), and magnesium (Mg) nutrients. The FIS × FN applications were evaluated based on the biological [growth, productivity, and cereal units (CUs)], competition [land equivalent ratio (LER), land equivalent coefficient (LEC), relative crowding coefficient (RCC), and aggressivity (A)] as well as economical [total revenue (TR), net profit (NP), and monetary advantage index (MAI)]. Although intercropping systems lowered crop yields as compared with solitary crops, the economic analysis of FISs showed that intercropping was beneficial, particularly the FIS12.5%, which resulted in higher TR, NP, MAI, and CUs as compared with their respective sole cultivation. Foliar application with B produced the best for the productivity, economic, and competition indices of both crops. The interaction application of FIS12.5% × B produced higher faba bean and sugar beet yields, improved LER and LEC values, and recorded higher TR, NP, MAI, and CUs. It can be recommended that the FIS12.5% integrated with B nutrient foliar application was more effective and could be considered a viable intensification strategy to increase intercropping yields, land use, and economic benefits.