Optimizing planting geometry for barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system in semi-arid sub-tropical climate

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 5; p. e0233171
• Main Authors: Ikram Ul Haq, Muhammad, Maqbool, Muhammad Mudassar, Ali, Ansar, Farooq, Shahid, Khan, Shahbaz, Saddiq, Muhammad Sohail, Khan, Khurshied Ahmad, Ali, Shahbaz, Ifnan Khan, Muhammad, Hussain, Ansar, Arif, Muhammad, Ahmad, Maqbool, Tanveer, Mahwish
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14-05-2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Agronomy; Arid climates; Aridity; Barley; Biology and Life Sciences; Cereal crops; Cereals; Climate; Clovers (Legumes); Crop yield; Crop yields; Cropping systems; Crops; Cultivation (Land); Double cropping; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Economics; Efficiency; Experiments; Furrow irrigation; Furrows; Future predictions; Geometry; Grain; Growth; Harvest; Intercropping; Irrigation; Irrigation systems; Legumes; Leguminous plants; Methods; Moisture content; Optimization; Planting; Potassium; Production management; Productivity; Profitability; Resource efficiency; Semiarid climates; Soil fertility; Strip; Subtropical climates; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Trifolium alexandrinum; Tropical climates; Water; Water content; Water use; Water use efficiency; Egypt; Pakistan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233171

Intercropping legumes with cereals has been a common cropping system in short-season rainfed environments due to its increased productivity and sustainability. Intercropping barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) with Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) could increase the grain yield of barley and improve resource use efficiency of the intercropping system. However, non-optimum planting geometry has been a hurdle in the adaptation of barley-based cropping systems. This study was aimed at optimizing the planting geometry, and assess the productivity and profitability of barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system. Ten different planting geometries, differing in number of rows of barley, width and number of irrigation furrows and planting method were tested. Intercropping barley with Egyptian clover improved 56-68% grain yield of barley compared with mono-cropped barley. Barley remained dominant crop in terms of aggressiveness, relative crowding coefficient and competitive ratio. The amount of water used was linearly increased with increasing size of barley strip from 3 to 8 rows. The highest water use efficiency (4.83 kg/cf3) was recorded for 8-row barley strip system with 120 cm irrigation furrows compared to rest of the planting geometries. In conclusion, 8-rows of barley planted on beds with Egyptian clover in 120 cm irrigation furrows had the highest net income and cost benefit ratio. Therefore, it is recommended that this planting geometry can be used for better economic returns of barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system. However, barley strips with >8 rows were not included in this study, which is limitation of the current study. Therefore, future studies with >8 barley rows in strip should be conducted to infer the economic feasibility and profitability of wider barley strips.