Productive and economic efficiency of carrot intercropped with cowpeavegetable resulting from green manure and different spatial arrangements

Abstract

-The aim of this study was to evaluate the agro-economic efficiency of intercropping carrot with cowpeavegetable in relation to the amounts of biomass of Calotropis procera (Ait.) R.Br. (known locally as flor-de-seda) incorporated into the soil, and to different spatial arrangements. The study was carried out under field conditions from August to November of 2014, at the Experimental Farm 'Rafael Fernandes' of the Rural Federal University of the Semi-Arid (RFUSA), in Mossoró, in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The experimental design was a randomised complete blocks in a 4 x 3 factorial, consisting of a combination of four different amounts of flor-de-seda biomass incorporated into the soil (20, 35, 50 and 65 t ha -1 of dry matter) and three spatial arrangements for the crop rows (2 x 2, 3 x 3 and 4 x 4). The carrot and cowpea cultivars used were Brasília and BRS Itaim . The characteristics under evaluation in the carrot were total, commercial and classified root production (scrap, short, medium and long). For the cowpea-vegetable, the following were evaluated: number, productivity and dry matter weight of green pods, number of grains per pod, 100-grain weight and yield of green grains. The agro-economic efficiency indices evaluated in the intercropping were: land equivalent ratio for the system and partial land equivalent ratios for the crops, monetary advantage and modified monetary advantage. The greatest agro-economic efficiency with the intercrop system was recorded in the biomass amount of 30 t ha -1 flor-de-seda. The 2 x 2 spatial arrangement resulted in greater system efficiency. The use of flor-de-seda as green manure is economically viable for the farmer when intercrop carrot with cowpea-vegetable.Key words: Daucus carota. Vigna unguiculata. Calotropis procera. Intercropping.RESUMO -O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a eficiência agro-económico do consórcio cenoura com caupi-hortaliça em relação às quantidades de biomassa de Calotropis procera (Ait.) R.Br. (conhecida localmente como flor-de-seda) incorporadas ao solo, e diferentes arranjos espaciais. O estudo foi conduzido em condições de campo no período de agosto a novembro de 2014, na Fazenda Experimental Rafael Fernandes da Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA), Mossoró, RN. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos completos casualizados em esquema fatorial 4 x 3, compreendendo a combinação de quatro quantidades de biomassa de flor-de-seda incorporadas ao solo (20; 35; 50 e 65 t ha -1 de matéria seca) e três arranjos espaciais de fileiras de plantas das culturas (2:2; 3:3; e 4:4). As cultivares de cenoura e caupi-hortaliça plantadas foram: Brasília e BRS Itaim . As características avaliadas na cenoura foram: produção total, comercial e classificada de raízes (refugo, curtas, médias e longas). No caupi-hortaliça avaliou-se: número, produtividade e peso da biomassa seca de vagens verdes, número de grãos por vagem, peso de 100 grãos e rendimento de grãos verdes. Os índices de eficiência agroeconômica avalia...

Agro-economic efficiency of immature cowpea-radish intercropping systems in semiarid environment

“…In the planting area, a solarization was carried out in pre-planting, with transparent plastic for 30 days, to combat nematodes and phytoparasites at 0-10 cm soil depths, especially Meloidogyne spp. (Favacho et al, 2017).…”

Agro-economic Feasibility of Intercropped Systems of Radish and Cowpea-Vegetable Manured With Roostertree Biomass

“…All maximum values for partial land equivalent ratios of the component cultures (LER r and LER cv ) and for the land equivalent ratio of the intercropping system were greater than unity, meaning that there was a better use of environmental resources and of the area by the crops, and of the hand labor in the various operations such as application of inputs and cultural practices with the use of the roostertree in the studied treatments when compared with their respective monocultures, indicating there is a complementarity between crops and an agronomic/biological advantage in the intercropping (Costa et al, 2017;Favacho et al, 2017). Rezende et al (2005) working with the radish and lettuce intercropping established in two row spacings and three lettuce transplanting times, observed that the intercropped systems established at zero day (with spacing of 0.30 × 0.30 m) and at 14 days after lettuce transplanting (with spacing of 0.40 × 0.30 m) had the highest land equivalent ratios of 1.76 and 1.61, respectively.…”

Technical Efficiency of Carrot Production in the Asante-Mampong Municipality Using Stochastic Frontier Analysis

“…They concluded that investment in education and improvement in infrastructure was critical for improving TE. From agronomic efficiency perspective, Favacho et al (2017) and Appiah et al (2017) studied productive and economic efficiency of carrot yield response to green manure and different spatial arrangements in Brazil and Ghana respectively in experimental design setting. In the Brazilian study it was concluded that the use of Calotropis procera (flor-de-seda) as green manure is economically viable for the farmer when intercrop carrot with cowpea-vegetable.…”