Forage Quality of Cow Pea (Vigna sinensis) Intercropped with Corn (Zea mays) as Affected by Nutrient Uptake and Light Interception

Authors

  • Hamdollah ESKANDARI Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz (IR)
  • Ahmad GHANBARI-BONJAR Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol (IR)
  • Muhammad GALAVI Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol (IR)
  • Muhammad SALARI Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol (IR)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha3713160

Keywords:

competitive ratio, crude protein, intercropping, resource consumption

Abstract

An experiment was carried out in 2003 to investigate the effect of intercropping on light interception, nutrient uptake and forage quality of cow pea. A randomized complete block design (RCB) with three replications was employed to compare the treatments, including cow pea sole crop (Cp), corn sole crop (C), alternate-row intercropping (M1), within-row intercropping (M2) and mixed intercropping (M3). The intercrop composition was based on replacement design, where one corn was replaced by three cow pea plants. The results indicated that PAR (photosyntheticaly active radiation) interception and nutrient uptake were improved by intercropping. Cow pea was more competitive than corn in absorbing divalent cations (Ca and Mg) for its high root cation exchange capacity. However, corn was more competitive than cow pea for phosphorus and potassium. Forage quality of cow pea in terms of crude protein was decreased in intercropping compared to its sole crop. It was related to reduction of biological nitrogen fixation induced by low PAR and phosphorus availability for cow pea in intercropping.

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Published

2009-06-30

How to Cite

ESKANDARI, H., GHANBARI-BONJAR, A., GALAVI, M., & SALARI, M. (2009). Forage Quality of Cow Pea (Vigna sinensis) Intercropped with Corn (Zea mays) as Affected by Nutrient Uptake and Light Interception. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 37(1), 171–174. https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha3713160

Issue

Vol. 37 No. 1 (2009)

Section

Research Articles
CITATION
DOI: 10.15835/nbha3713160

License

Copyright (c) 2009 Hamdollah ESKANDARI, Ahmad GHANBARI-BONJAR, Muhammad GALAVI, Muhammad SALARI

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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© Articles by the authors; licensee UASVM and SHST, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Papers published in the journal Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca are open access distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses).

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