Abstract:
Intercropping is one of the
most important and sustaibale cropping
practice in agro-ecosystems. The study was
conducted under field conditions in the arid
Horqine sandy land in Baicheng District,
Jilin Province, Northern China in 2011. A
randomized complete block design with
four replications was used. Treatments
comprised different mono cropping and
intercropping patterns, TO: sole cropping of
oat, TOS-O: oat in the intercropping of oat
and soybean, TOG-O: oat in the
intercropping of oat and groundnut, TS: sole
cropping of soybean, TOS-S: soybean in
intercropping of oat and soybean, TG: sole
cropping of groundnut, TOG-G: groundnut
in the intercropping of oat and groundnut. In
intercropping patterns, oat in oat-groundnut
had obtained the highest dry matter in all
stages. The highest value of protein
percentage and organic matter in heading
stage, grain filling stage, and grain dough
stage was achieved in groundnut in oatgroundnut
intercropping. The maximum
value of protein percentage and organic
matter in booting stage and ripening stage
was related to soybean in oat-soybean
intercropping. The results of this study
clearly indicate that intercropping oat and
groundnut affects the growth rate of the
individual species in mixtures as well as the
dry matter yield and nitrogen accumulation.
The highest seed yield was obtained for
mono-cropping of soybean, followed by
mono-cropping of groundnut and oat. Oat
seed yield intercropping of oat and
groundnut, and intercropping of oat and
soybean were 1208.00 kg/ha, and 832.3 kg/ha,
respectively. The highest grain yield was
obtained when soybean was grown together
with oat, where the higher yield of intercrop
is due to the better usage of nutrient, water and light. LER in all intercropping patterns
were higher than 1. LER in intercropping of
soybean and oat, and intercropping of
groundnut and oat were 1.41, and 1.30,
respectively. With these LER values,
29.07% and 23.07% of land were,
respectively, saved in intercropping of
soybean and oat, and intercropping of
groundnut and oat, respectively, which
could be used for other agricultural
purposes. In both intercropping of soybean
and oat, and intercropping of groundnut and
oat, CI were less than 1, which means that
both these two intercropping patterns have
positive effects.
