Intercropping Faba bean with Some Crops and Its Impact on the Production, Phyllosphere and Rhizosphere Microorganisms Under Modern Irrigation Systems

Abstract

Two field experiments were carried out at Arab El-Awammer Research Station, Assiut Governorate, Agricultural Research Centre, during 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. The present study assessed the effect of intercropping faba bean with some crops on the production, phyllosphere and rhizosphere microorganisms under modern irrigation systems. Two separates experiments were done and each experiment was subjected to one of studied irrigation systems (sprinkler and drip irrigations). Each experiment contained seven treatments of cropping systems (sole faba bean, sole onion, sole garlic, sole fennel, faba bean + onion, faba bean + garlic and faba bean + fennel). Results showed that plant height, number of branches/plant, number of pods/plant, seed yield/plant, weight of 100 seed and seed yield/fed of faba bean was decreased when intercropped with onion, garlic and fennel compared with sole faba bean in the both seasons. Drip irrigation produced the maximum yield and its attributes of faba bean as compared with sprinkler irrigation in the both seasons. Sole onion and garlic gave the highest values of yield/fed under drip irrigation as compared with intercrop with faba bean and sprinkler irrigation in the both seasons. However, fennel intercrop with faba bean produced the highest value of yield/fed under sprinkler irrigation as compared with sole fennel and drip irrigation in the both seasons. The highest value of land equivalent ratio (LER) 1.92 was observed when fennel intercrop with faba bean under sprinkler irrigation in the second season. Competitive ratio (CR) values of onion, garlic and fennel intercrop with faba bean were greater than of sole faba bean in the both seasons. The highest value of monetary advantage index (MAI) 6519.96 was observed when intercropping faba bean with garlic under drip irrigation in the second season. Rhizosphere and phyllosphere microorganisms were highly affected by the intercropping and various irrigation systems. Total counts of both bacteria and fungi in plants phyllosphere were high under sprinkle irrigation than under drip irrigation system while, in drip irrigation was highest in rhizosphere. Sole cropping contained higher microbial number than cropping system. Higher values of the biodiversity index indicate large variation in fungal communities of different plants especially in intercropping.

Effect of Relaying Intercropping Onion Transplanting Dates on Faba Bean under Different Plant Densities

“…They attributed this result to the increased above and below ground competition in the intercropping system, where late transplanting times in onion on 15 th January and the dense faba bean sowing would lead to severe competition among plants for water, light and nutrients, resulting in the production of less vigorous plants. These findings were consistent with those obtained by Singh and Singh (2002), Aboukhadra et al (2013), Abou-Keriasha et al (2013 and Mahmoud, et al (2018).…”

“…These findings are in line with previous researchers Abou- Keriasha et al (2012);Hamd Alla et al (2014), Sheha (2016), Shehata Manal (2017 and Mahmoud et al (2018), who claimed that the economic benefit of intercropping was reflected in the increased MAI values. (7) Economic evaluations:…”

“…All mean values for interaction between transplanting dates of onion and densities of faba bean were less than solid faba bean except plant height (cm) which ranged from 93.68 cm to 110.70, while solid was 94.64 cm. These results are in harmony to those obtained by Abou-Keriasha et al (2013) and Mahmoud, et al (2018). Data in (Table 7) showed that land equivalent ratio values were greater than one.…”

Isolation and characterization of pigment producing fungi

“…It was reported that, the most prevalent genus isolated from all phyllosphere samples of faba bean as Aspergillus, which accounted for 50.87% of the total number of phyllosphere fungal species. Rhizopus stolonifer came in second, contributing 19.56% of the total number of phyllosphere fungi [34]. The genus Penicillium has been described from the phyllosphere of other plants, including wheat [35], which is consistent with our results.…”

Effects of planting density and variety on productivity of maize-faba bean intercropping system

“…This sole-cropped faba bean might have had no interspecific competition and also had enough sunlight to photosynthesize and the food translocates sufficiently to the sink and the endosperms of the grain become well developed that may have contributed increments in grain mass. Mahmoud et al [ 48 ] also indicated that HSW of faba bean was higher (58.52 g) in sole cropping and significantly decreased when intercropped with onion (57.44 g), garlic (57.18 g) and fennel (56.03 g).…”