Author(s)

Y. E. El-Ghobashi¹, A. E. M. Eata²

¹Crop Intensification Research Department, Field Crops Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
²Department of Vegetable Research, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt.

A field experiment was conducted at El-Serw Agricultural Research Station, Damietta Governorate, Egypt during 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons to reduce mineral N inputs of sugar beet with increased land use efficiency and profitability under intercropping conditions. Seven treatments included five treatments (90 kg nitrogen “N” + 30 m³ farm yard manure “FYM”/fad, 80 kg N +30 m³ FYM/fad, 70 kg N +30 m³ FYM/fad and 400 g of Cerealine + 30 m³ FYM/fad for intercropping faba bean cultivar Spanish with sugar beet cultivar Gloria) and two treatments (90 and 20 kg N/fad for solid culture of sugar beet and faba bean, respectively, as recommended mineral N fertilizer rate) were compared in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Solid culture of sugar beet with the application of recommended rate (90 kg N/fad) gave the highest top, root and sugar yields/fad, as well as the percentage of purity compared with the other treatments in both seasons. Intercropping faba bean with sugar beet plants with application of 90 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad gave the highest number of leaves/plant, leaf area/plant, root length, root diameter and root weight/plant followed by intercropped sugar beet plants that fertilized with 80 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad compared with the other treatments in both seasons. On the other hand, intercropped sugar beet that received 400 g of Cerealine + 30 m³ FYM/fad had the highest percentages of T.S.S. and sucrose followed by 70 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad compared with the other treatments in both seasons. Solid culture of faba bean with the application of 20 kg N/fad gave the highest plant height, number of seeds/pod and seed yield/fad, meanwhile the highest number of branches/plant and pod length were achieved by intercropping faba bean with sugar beet with application of 90 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad followed by intercropped faba bean plants that fertilized with 80 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad compared with the other treatments in both seasons. However, intercropped faba bean plants that fertilized with 70 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad gave the highest number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed index and seed yield per plant compared with the other treatments in both seasons. Land equivalent ratio (LER), land equivalent coefficient (LEC) and relative crowding coefficient (RCC) were high by intercropping faba bean with sugar beet with the application of 80 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad indicating yield advantage was achieved. The value of aggressivity (Agg) of sugar beet was negative for all combinations indicating that sugar beet is dominated component in the present study. Intercropping faba bean with sugar beet with the application of 80 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad achieved higher total income and monetary advantage index (MAI) than the other treatments. Growing sugar beet plants in both sides of beds (1.2 m width) with one faba bean row in middle of sugar beet beds with the application of 80 kg N + 30 m³ FYM/fad decreased mineral N fertilizer rate by 10.00% of the recommended sugar beet mineral N fertilizer rate, as well as increased land usage and profitability for Egyptian farmers compared with sugar beet solid culture.

Intercropping, Sugar Beet, Faba Bean, Mineral N Fertilizer, FYM, Cerealine, Competitive Relationships, Intercropping Economic Advantage

El-Ghobashi, Y. and Eata, A. (2020) Competitive Relationships and Yield Advantage of Intercropping Faba Bean with Sugar Beet under Bio-Organic Additives and Mineral Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates. Agricultural Sciences, 11, 369-389. doi: 10.4236/as.2020.114022.