SCREENING OF DIVERSE LOCAL GERMPLASM OF GUAR [CYAMOPSIS TETRAGONOLOBA (L.) TAUB.] FOR SALT TOLERANCE: A POSSIBLE APPROACH TO UTILIZE SALT-AFFECTED SOILS

摘要

A plastic tunnel experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of eggplant/garlic relay intercropping on theeggplant growth, chlorophyll content and combined output value in 2011 and 2012. The experimental design wasrandomized block with three replications consisting of eggplant monoculture (CK), eggplant relay intercropping withnormal garlic (NG) and eggplant relay intercropping with green garlic (GG). It is showed that the eggplant stem in 2011 wasfirst thicker then thinner in CK than NG, and it was always thicker in CK than GG; the plant height and stem diameter wereboth higher in relay intercropping treatments than CK in 2012. The chlorophyll content and chlorophyll a/b ratio were lowerin NG compared with CK in most cases. In 2011, the eggplant yield and combined output value in GG were lower than CK,but in 2012, they were higher and the difference of combined output value between GG and CK was significant; for NG,they were always promoted both in 2011 and 2012. Different results between 2011 and 2012 may be due to the differenttime of green garlic uprooted in the spring. It is proved that uprooting green garlic before eggplant transplanting in 2012 wasbetter to eggplant growth than uprooting them after eggplant transplanting in 2011. The conclusions are drawn that relayintercropping with normal or green garlic can improve the eggplant growth, increase the yield and the combined outputvalue. As a result, eggplant/garlic relay intercropping systems may contribute to sustainable production of eggplant.