Evaluation of different crop sequences for wheat and maize in sandy soil

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to assess four crop sequence system including wheat and maize grown in sandy soil of Upper Egypt with respect to the applied irrigation amount for each crop sequence, total production and water productivity. Two field experiments were conducted in Egypt during 2013/14 and 2014/15 growing seasons. Each experiment included four crop sequences: maize then wheat (CS1); maize, short season clover (SSC) then wheat (CS2); cowpea, SSC then wheat (CS3); cowpea intercropped with maize, SSC then wheat (CS4). The lowest amount of applied water was added to CS1 which resulted with low value of wheat and maize yield and the lowest water productivity. The highest amount of applied water was applied to CS2 and CS4 (similar values). The highest wheat yield and water productivity were obtained in CS3. The highest maize yield and water productivity was obtained from CS4. The highest total production (170.88 and 213.43 CU ha -1 in the 1 st and 2 nd season, respectively) and water productivity (0.093 and 0.114 CU m -3 in the 1 st and 2 nd season, respectively) for the studied crop sequences was obtained from CS3. In conclusion, higher water productivity for wheat in sandy soil can be attain by cultivating two legume crops before it (CS3); and for maize, it should be intercropped with a legume crop (CS4).

Evaluation of some Crop Sequences and Nitrogen Levels on Wheat Productivity

“…More grain yield by the berseem as intermediate crop is attributed to more fertile tillers (spikes) per m 2 , grains number spike -1 and spike length. These results are in accordance with those reported by Singh et al (2003), Singh et al (2008), Usadadiya et al (2014) and Ouda et al (2017).…”

“…Wheat was cultivated after maize gave the shortest plant height because both crops are exhausted to the soil fertility. These promoting effects of legume-wheat sequences were reported by Ouda et al (2017); Singh et al (2008) and Usadadiya et al (2014). Increasing nitrogen rate from 50 to 100 kg/feddan (fed) substantially increased plant height in both seasons.…”

“…Sharma and Behera (2009) indicated that wheat crop showed better growth in terms of produced more tillers and spikes m -2 following summer legumes than fallow. Previous research (Ouda et al, 2017;Singh et al, 2003) stated that legume crop rotation improved wheat yield. Spikes number m -2 , spike length and grains number spike -1 were significantly increased when wheat plants received 100 kg N/fed compared with those received 50 or 75 kg N/fed (Table 1 and 2).…”

Appropriate crop sequence and N fertilization levels of wheat to improve its productivity in Egypt

“…A substantial increase in fresh forage yield of clover (fahl) after the legume crop indicated the positive role of legume as the preceding crop. Results herein are in agree with those obtained by Zohry et al (2017) stated that the highest yield of short season clover was obtained when cowpea preceded it in both growing seasons.…”

“…In general, arranging cereal-legume crops in an appropriate sequence allows them to use the available resources more efficiently (Negash et al, 2018;Voisin et al, 2018), higher overall productivity and quality (Mohammed and Chen, 2018), improve soil fertility and reduce nitrate leaching (Dogan and Bilgili 2010;Sainju et al, 2015), increased water productivity (Zohry and Ouda, 2018), better control of pests and diseases (Jalli et al, 2021) and greater economic profitability (Zhang et al, 2015, Mohammed andChen, 2018). Wheat grain yield was the highest following alfalfa, and it was 33% lower following wheat (Ercoli et al, 2014).…”