Yield response to plant density of maize and sunflower intercropped with soybean

ECHARTE, L.; A. DELLA MAGGIORA; D. CERRUDO; H. GONZALEZ; P. ABBATE; A. CERRUDO; V.O. SADRAS; P. CALVIÑO

FIELD CROPS RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2011 vol. 121 p. 423 - 429

0378-4290

Maize-soybean and sunflower-soybean intercrops have the potential for increasing yield per unit land area and time in fully mechanized farming systems. The objectives of this work were to measure the land equivalent ratio index of maize and sunflower intercropped to soybean, to assess the effects of plant density of its components, and to gain insight into ecophysiological processes affecting their yield determination. Maize-soybean and sunflower-soybean intercrops and their respective sole crops were grown at Balcarce, Argentina during two growing seasons. Treatments included a wide range of plant densities for sole and intercropped sunflower (2 to 9 plants m-2) and maize (4 to 12 plants m-2).  Plants were harvested to determine shoot dry matter and grain yield per plot and at the individual plant level. Yield response to plant density of sunflower and maize influenced the land equivalent ratio index. The response to plant density of intercropped sunflower and maize grain yield followed the same pattern than that in a sole crop, and grain yield of intercropped sunflower or maize were lower than those for the sole crops at each plant density except at the lowest sunflower plant density. Yield reductions from sole crop to intercrop at each plant density were associated (i) with lower intra-row spacing in the intercrop and (ii) with a lower shoot production rather than to a change in the dry matter partitioning to reproductive structures; in addition, detrimental effects of soybean over maize or sunflower yield were undetectable.