Effect of Irrigation on Intercropping Systems of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Abstract

Intercropping is an old and commonly used agricultural practice and involves the cultivation of two or more crops in the same area of land at the same time and may improve yield, the use of the environmental resources, product quality, and soil health. The objective of the present study was to study the effect of water availability of wheat-pea intercrops using agronomic and physiological characteristics. The experiment was conducted at the farm of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece during two growing seasons 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 using two different cultivars from pea (Isard and Olympos) and wheat (Yecora E and Elissavet) and two irrigation regimes. The availability of water increased grain yield and affected most of the characteristics that were studied. In terms of total Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) there was a yield advantage of intercrops over monocrops, which indicates the efficiency of intercropping for using the environmental resources. Both wheat cultivars, the pea cultivar Olympos and their intercrops indicated high adaptation capacity to rainfed conditions, whereas Isard and its intercrops performed better under irrigation. Therefore, the intercropping of wheat with pea uses the water resources of the environment more efficiently and can be used in dry land conditions for higher yield.