Phosphorus Utilization Efficiency as Affected by Component Population, Rhizobial Inoculation and Applied Nitrogen in Maize/Mungbean Intercropping

Abstract

SummaryThe effects of component population, rhizobial inoculation and applied nitrogen on the efficiency of phosphorus utilization in maize/mungbean intercropping were examined in two experiments. The efficiency of phosphorus absorption decreased by between 5 and 43% in maize and by between 31 and 58% in mungbean as a result of intercropping. The overall efficiency of phosphorus absorption in intercropping decreased with increasing nitrogen level but a parallel increase in overall conversion efficiency maintained a constant and large land equivalent ratio (LER) up to the highest level of nitrogen. The increase in LER over unity, however, was due primarily to the greater total absorption of phosphorus by maize and mungbean together in intercropping compared with that when they were grown in pure stands.