Effects of covering crop in mix intercropping on alfalfa establishment and its economical assessment.
2009
Qotbi, Vida | Asadi, Hormoz | Rah Ju, Vahid
The objectives of this research were to assess the effects of annual cereal as companion crops or covering crops, barley (Hordeum vulagare L.), Oat (Avena sativa L) and Triticale (X Triticosecale sativa L.) in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) establishments and optimum cereal seeding rates in alfalfa mixture for fresh and dry forage yield and yield quality. The experiment was conducted in RCB design with three replications in Karaj in 2006 and 2007. The Cereals seed rates in mixture were 80, 120, 160 and 200 seed /m2 and alfalfa seed rate was 500 seed /m2. The results of combined ANOVA indicated significant differences among mixed proportions for fresh and dry forage yield at 1٪ level. The highest fresh and dry yield in sum of harvests in 2 years were observed in the proportion alfalfa+oat (160 seed /m2) with 71,58 and 20,24 T/ha respectively. Furthermore the results of combined ANOVA for qualitative traits demonstrated significant differences among mixed proportions for DMD, WSC, CP, ADF and CF. The best mixture proportions in 2 years observed for DMD in alfalfa-triticale (120 seed /m2) with 55,33٪, alfalfa-triticale (200 seed /m2) with 55, 05٪ and alfalfa-triticale (160 seed /m2) with 54, 90٪, for cp in pure alfalfa with 20,09٪ and alfalfa-Oat (80 seed /m2) with 18,41٪, for WSC in alfalfa-triticale (200 seed /m2) with 18,20٪, alfalfa-Oat (200 seed /m2)with 17,51٪, for ADF in alfalfa-triticale (120 seed /m2) with 28, 21%, and ultimately for Cf in pure alfalfa with 34,05٪. Furthermore, economical assessment indicates that replacement of alfalfa mixture with oat (150 Kg/ha) with other treatment wasn't economical and application this treatment has higher pure profit 23,2 million rials/ha in comparison with other treatments.
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