Agronomic performance of arugula/nira intercropping in different cultivation arrangements

Abstract

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.

Chicory and Arugula in Intercropping With Collard Greens1

“…Leafy vegetables stand out for their varied organoleptic and functional characteristics in the human body (FU et al, 2017). Brazil has a wide variety of leafy vegetables, produced predominantly in conventional systems; however, intercropping systems have been the subject of numerous studies and are demonstrated to be sustainable and profitable enhancers of land use efficiency when adopted by farmers (BARBOSA; MALDONADO JÚNIOR, 2015;NASCIMENTO;NASCIMENTO;CECÍLIO FILHO, 2018, GUIMARÃES et al, 2020. Collard greens, chicory and arugula are some of the main leafy vegetables produced in Brazil (ABSEM, 2016).…”