Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Abstract
Introduction
Mixcropping is one of the components of sustainable agriculture, if done correctly and the appropriate plant species are selected, it increases yield, improves economic efficiency, preserves natural resources, increases the efficiency of resource use in organic farming and it can be useful in pest, diseases and weeds control. Mixcropping of oilseeds and legumes is a type of mixed cropping systems that increases the performance of the mixed components, reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer compared to pure cultivation, increases the efficiency of the consumption of nutrients and water, and causes disruption of specific host diseases. According to the fact that the two plants, bean and sesame have an acceptable time of simultaneous cultivation, therefore it seems that the mixed cultivation of these two plants can achieve the benefits of a mixed cultivation system and increase the productivity of production in the management of weeds. Based on the conducted research, the mixture of oilseeds and legumes increases the performance of the components of the mixture, and on the other hand, due to the potential of nitrogen biofixation in legumes, it reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer compared to their pure cultivation and significantly suppresses facilitate weeding. The present study was conducted in order to investigate the weed control methods on yield and land equation ratio under the influence of mixed cropping bean and sesame.
Materials and Methods
This experiment was conducted as a 6×3 factorial in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2019-2020 in a farm of Hossein Abad village at Shirvan- Iran. The treatments included different ratios of sesame: bean at 6 levels (100:0, 25:100, 50:100, 75:100, 100:100 and 0:100) at the optimum bean and sesame density (40 pl. m-2) and weed control methods in three levels including the use of trifluralin herbicide (960 a.i ha-1) mixed with the soil surface two weeks before planting, and hand weeding 35 and 55 days after planting (DAP). Irrigation was done by drip irrigation every week until seed filling stage. When the sesame seeds were at the physiological ripening stage and the pods of the bean plant were yellow, harvesting was done from an area of one square meter on 24 September. After drying the harvested plants in the open air, their biomass and seed yield were measured and the land equation ratio (LER) was determined.
Results
The results showed that in all bean and sesame mixecroping ratios, especially the 75:100 ratio, hand weeding treatments had a higher LER compared to the trifluralin herbicide application treatment. The highest bean grain yield (336.16 g m-2) and biomass (953.68 g m-2) and the highest sesame grain yield (252.68 g m-2) and biomass (average 860.88 g m-2) were observed in pure bean sesame cultivation + use of trifluralin. However, in all bean and sesame mixecroping treatments, LER was higher than monoculture treatments. The highest LER (1.80) was observed in the hand weeding treatment 55 days after planting in the 75:100 (sesame:bean) mixecroping ratio. Therefore, the aforementioned treatment can be useful and recommended in weed management as well as increasing yield and biomass in bean and sesame mixecroping systems.
Conclusion
According to the results of this research, mixecroping of sesame and beans with a ratio of 75:100 (sesame:bean) + 55 DAP can be useful and recommended in this mixecroping system and it’s weed management in Shirvan-Iran conditions. However, in pure cultivation of beans and sesame, the use of trifluralin has better results.
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