Agronomic Performance and Biological Efficiency of Kale Intercropped With Spice Species

Abstract

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 arugula with aromatic condiment species affords better yields, biological efficiency and financial return

“…For the single arugula to have a yield equal to that of the intercropped systems in T2, T3 and T4, it would be necessary to increase the area cultivated as a single crop by 48%, 28% and 2% respectively. Hendges et al (2019), evaluating an intercrop of kale with the Apiaceae (coriander and parsley) used in this study and under similar growing conditions, found that crops of this family gave the highest values for the AEE, indicating greater biological efficiency. Apiaceae are known to be important crops when intercropped with other vegetables, where the better results seen under intercropped systems are due to crop diversification, which, in addition to agronomic benefits, allows a complement to marketing, affording greater financial returns (Sousa et al, 2018;Brito, 2018;Akshatha et al, 2019).…”

“…In this study, the highest value seen for the LER was in T2 (1.6), followed by T4 and T3 with values very close to 1.4 and 1.3 respectively. Hendges et al (2019), evaluating an intercrop of kale with the Apiaceae, coriander and parsley, also used in the intercrops grown in this study and under similar growing conditions, found that crops of this family afforded the highest values for LER, indicating greater biological efficiency. This result shows that the intercropped system favoured growth and production in the vegetables, which means that the combinations used were viable (Ribas et al, 2020).…”

“…Research, Society andDevelopment, v. 10, n. 3, e21910313237, 2021 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i3.13237 Biological efficiency can be analysed using indicators that determine land use efficiency or the land equivalent ratio (LER). In assessing the yield of an intercropped system compared to single crops, LER values greater than 1 indicate that the intercropped system favours growth and yield in the species (Hendges et al, 2019;Li et al, 2020).…”

Competitive Ability and Physiological Aspects of Single and Intercropped Arugula (Eruca sativa Miller)

“…Intercropping is a production system that aims to provide greater yields with less impact on the environment due to greater efficiency in the use of natural resources and inputs involved in the production process, bringing benefits to agricultural production of greater yields and better quality crops (Cecí lio Filho et al, 2015;Cecí lio Filho et al, 2017;Hendges et al, 2019;Wen et al, 2019;He et al, 2019;Barros Júnior et al, 2020).…”

“…Considering that intercropping involves specific biological interactions and competitive relationships which can have a significant impact on crop performance and on the efficiency of the intercropping systems (Hendges et al, 2019;Nassary et al, 2020), studies to evaluate different species are of great importance, since they can define which species are the most productive when submitted to intercropping. Based on the above, the aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological aspects and effects on the competitive ability of arugula intercropped with different aromatic condiment species.…”