Intercropping is a management strategy for the sustainability of agricultural systems, and is suitable for the production of vegetables. Kale is predominantly grown singly, but field observations have indicated that this crop has satisfactory productive potential when grown in intercrops with other vegetables. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance and biological efficiency of kale plants intercropped with spice species. The experiment was carried out at the Didactic Horta of the Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with five replications. The treatments consisted of kale grown singly and intercropped with spice species (chives, coriander, basil, and parsley) and these spice species grown singly. The fresh and dry weights of the kale leaves, and the shoot of the spice species were evaluated. The biological efficiency was evaluated by the land use efficiency index (LUE), relative contribution of the kale crop to the LUE, area time equivalent ratio, and system productivity index. The intercropping of kale with parsley resulted in the highest fresh, and dry weights of kale leaves, showing the highest agronomic efficiency.
Intercropping affords an increase in productivity by optimising the area used, as well as maximising input use efficiency the financial return of intercroping systems was higher than that observed in the respective individual cultures. Here we show prominently that the financial return of the consortium systems was higher than that observed in the respective individual cultures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agronomic parameters, biological and productive efficiency, and economic performance of arugula under a single and intercropped system. The study was conducted at the Teaching Garden of the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, in a randomised block design, with four replications and seven treatments: T1 (single arugula), T2 (arugula intercropped with coriander), T3 (arugula intercropped with parsley), T4 (arugula intercropped with garlic chives), T5 (single coriander), T6 (single parsley) and T7 (single garlic chives). Phytotechnical evaluations were carried out. Biological efficiency was evaluated based on the following factors: land use efficiency index or land equivalent ratio (LER), relative contribution of the arugula crop to the LER (CRC), area time equivalent ratio (RAET) and system productivity index (IPS). For the economic analysis, the following were evaluated: operational production costs (OC; BRL ha-1), gross revenue (GR; BRL ha-1), gross profit (GP; BRL ha-1), rate of return (RR; %) and profitability index (PI;%). The system based on arugula intercropped with coriander showed the best agronomic performance and biological efficiency. Productivity and economic advantage under this intercropped system were also superior to the other treatments.
The effectiveness of intercropping depends on the complementarity or the adaptive capacity of species during the period of coexistence. Kale is a plant that displays differing responses to environmental factors, and may therefore display different behaviour when grown with other species. The aim of this study was to analyse the physiological behaviour and competitive ability of kale when intercropped with the Welsh onion, coriander, basil and parsley. The experiment was carried out under field conditions, in a randomised block design with nine treatments and five replications. The following were evaluated: net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, CO 2 concentration of the sub-stomatal chamber, transpiration rate, ratio between the CO 2 concentration of the substomatal chamber and the CO 2 concentration of the environment, instantaneous carboxylation efficiency, aggressivity index, and the competitive and compensation ratios. The kale plants intercropped with coriander displayed values for net photosynthesis (A) and instantaneous carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci) of 18.75 µmol CO 2 m -2 s -1 and 0.060 respectively, the lowest values for all the treatments under evaluation. The kale displayed less competitive ability. The more aggressive crops were the Welsh onion (2.25) and coriander (2.08). The parsley displayed the lowest competitive effect, having no effect on yield in the kale. The conclusion is that the coriander was prejudicial to the photosynthetic performance of the kale. The intercropping system with parsley was the most advantageous, due to the balance seen in interference between species for productive resources.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the competitive ability and physiological aspects of arugula intercropped with different aromatic condiment species. The study was carried out at the Teaching Garden of the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. A randomised complete block design was used, with four replications and seven treatments: T1 (single arugula), T2 (arugula intercropped with coriander), T3 (arugula and parsley), T4 (arugula and garlic chives), T5 (single coriander), T6 (parsley) and T7 (garlic chives). A physiological evaluation was made of the arugula only. Competitive ability was obtained by calculating the aggressivity index, simplified aggressivity, competitive ratio and compensation ratio. The leaf area index and specific leaf area were calculated. No difference was seen between the treatments with arugula for the physiological factors net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, rate of transpiration and instant carboxylation efficiency under evaluation within each crop cycle, but there was a difference between the two cycles. The coriander showed the highest aggressivity index and competitive ratio, and was considered more competitive than the arugula, with a higher compensation ratio. As an intercrop, the arugula showed greater competitive ability than the parsley and garlic chives. The greatest leaf area and leaf area index in the arugula plants were seen when intercropped with coriander.
Salinity is one of the abiotic stresses that most limit crop productivity. This makes it essential to search for alternatives that would ensure the viability of production under such conditions. The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of silicon for reducing the detrimental effects of salt stress on seed germination and initial seedling growth in five lettuce cultivars. Two experiments were carried out in a completely randomised design with four replications. In the first experiment, germination behaviour of five lettuce cultivars (Year Round Cabbage, Americana Great Lakes, Great Lakes 659, Lucy Brown, and Crisp Cabbage) was evaluated under five levels of salt stress (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM). In the second, two lettuce cultivars, one sensitive and one tolerant to salinity, submitted to six different combinations of NaCl and Na 2 SiO 3. The germination (G), first germination count, germination speed index, mean germination time, and root and shoot length and dry weight were evaluated. A reduction in G was seen from 100 mM for all cultivars, with 'Lucy Brown' being the most tolerant, even under higher levels of NaCl. The 'Americana Great Lakes' and 'Great Lakes 659' were the most sensitive to salinity. When silicon was added to the NaCl treatments, it was found that the effects of the salt stress were reduced, resulting in higher values for germination and the growth variables. Silicon reduced the detrimental effects of salt stress on the physiological quality of the seeds and the initial growth phase of the lettuce.
Spatial planning of cultivation arrangements is essential to ensure the superiority of intercropping when compared with monocrop. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the agronomic performance of arugula/nira intercropping in different cultivation arrangements. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design, in a split plot scheme, the plots represented the cultivation arrangements and the subplots the production cycles (winter and spring). The arrangements were T1= arugula monoculture; T2= two rows of arugula alternating with three rows of nira (2R:3N); T3= two rows of arugula alternating with two rows of nira (2R:2N); T4= two rows of arugula alternating with one row of nira (2R:1N); T5= nira monoculture. Productive traits and agronomic performance indexes of the intercropping systems were evaluated. Single arugula cultivation and 2R:1N intercropping achieved similar productivity, 2R:1N intercropping showed the highest productive efficiency, with land-use efficiency of 1.16%, though arugula showed a relative contribution of 84.3% in production yield of the system. We concluded that 2R:1N intercropping can be used to optimize the use of productive inputs in arugula cultivation.
Silicon (Si) is a mineral element that provides many benefits to plants and may also assist in tolerance to abiotic stresses such as salinity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of Si as a possible attenuator of the deleterious effects of salinity on growth and post-harvest of lettuce. A completely randomized design with four replicates was performed in a 3 × 2 factorial, consisting of three salinity levels (1.65, 3.65, 7.65 dS m -1 ) and two levels of silicon (0.0 and 2.0 mM). Salinity reduced all variables related to plant growth. For shoot fresh and dry mass, it was observed that NaCl caused a reduction of 79.80 and 80%, respectively, in comparison to the control. However, parameters related to post-harvest such as titratable acidity, soluble solids and vitamin C increased with salinity. Although not effective in reducing saline stress on plant growth, Si provided improvements in the variables related to lettuce post-harvest. Salinity significantly reduced plant growth in the presence and absence of Si, but provided better post-harvest quality with Si.
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