Advantages of Intercropping Soybean with Maize Under Two Maize Plant Distributions and Three Mineral Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates

Abstract

The advent of further bioengineering for growing soybean with maize holds only promise for the future of the crop intensification field. The present research studied responses of maize crop and its yield attributes to decrease mineral nitrogen (N) inputs by growing soybean with two maize plant distributions under three cropping systems. Local maize variety T.W.C. 310 was grown under intercropping and sole cultures in one row/ridge in one and two plants/hill spaced at 30 and 60cm, respectively, that received three mineral N fertilizer rates (4, 5 and 6 g N/plant), while local variety of soybean seeds Giza 82 were drilled in two rows/ridge. A split-split-plot design with three replications was used. Light intensity with in maize canopy, ear leaf N and indole acetic acid (IAA) contents were affected by all the studied factors. Mixed pattern increased grain yields per plant and per ha by 1.56 and 3.98 %, respectively, in comparison with sole culture in addition to yielding 1.74 ton/ha of soybean. Increasing number of plants from one to two plants/hill by increasing plant spacing from 30 to 60 cm increased grain yields per plant and per ha. There were no significant differences between the medium and the highest mineral N fertilizer rates for all the studied traits. Soybean improved N use efficiency (NUE) for maize plant of mixed pattern. The mixed pattern had a total yield increase of 29.79 % than sole maize. Growing soybean on both sides of maize ridge that distributed to two plants/hill spaced at 60 cm decreased 47.6 kg N/ha of the recommended mineral N rate of maize plants which formed the best bioengineered treatment under Egyptian conditions.

Comparative analysis of maize–soybean strip intercropping systems: a review

“…Nevertheless, they recorded the highest maize grains and soybean seeds (7650 and 1950 kg ha −1 , respectively) in mixed intercropping pattern. El-Shamy et al (2015) also observed that maize plants of mixed pattern have the highest nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and ear leaf N content by improved underground conditions in rhizosphere. The maximum NUE in mixed pattern mainly due to plant density reached at 100% of sole cropping.…”

Influence of Intercropping Cowpea with some Maize Hybrids and N Nano-Mineral Fertilization on Productivity in Salinity Soil

“…Introducing cowpea into the cropping systems not only addresses the problem of low soil fertility, but also increased protein in diets and green fodder utilization during summer. Legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen, which may be utilized by the legume and also excreted from the nodules into the soil and be used by other plants nearby (Shen & Chu, 2004;Sheahan, 2012) or compliment/supplement inorganic fertilizers (El-Shamy et al, 2015). Intercropped maize plants with cowpea, exhibited greater yield potential and resulted in higher growth, yield and yield components (Abdel-Wahab et al, 2016;Idoko et al, 2018;Toungos et al, 2018).…”

Maximizing Land Use Efficiency by Intercropping Cowpea with Some Maize Cultivars under Different Maize Planting Geometries

“…Accordingly, spacing is a practice that determines the spatial distribution of plants and affects canopy structure, light interception, and radiation use efficiency and, consequently, biomass or grain yield [16]. Although doubling maize number unit area −1 by increasing spacing between plants from 30 to 60 cm led to the similarity in plant density unit area −1 , there were significant increments in maize yield and its attributes under intercropping and sole culture [17]. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to evaluate intercropping cowpea with suitable maize cultivar and its planting geometry for maximizing land usage and net return.…”