PRODUCTIVITY OF CORN AND SOYBEAN UNDER SOLID AND INTERCROPPING PLANTINGS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF IRRIGATION WATER IN EGYPT

摘要

The present investigation was carried out at Giza Agricultural Experiments and Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, (Egypt) during the two successive seasons 2015 and 2016 to determine productivity, WUE and LERs of intercroppingsoybean with corn in beds as compared with solid plantings of traditional ridges. The experiment included eighteen treatments which were the combinations between three applied irrigation water (75, 100 and 125 of the recommended water applied) and sixcropping systems (50 soybean + 100 corn, 100 soybean + 100 corn, traditional solid corn, solid corn 'mixed system', traditional solid soybean and solid soybean 'mixed system'). The experimental design was split plot design with four replications. Thedata indicated that all the studied soybean characters were affected negatively by intercropping with corn. Increasing soybean plant density under intercropping systems from 50 to 100 of solid culture achieved high seed yield without any significant reduction on corn grain yield. The interaction between levels of irrigation water and cropping systems did not affect soybean characters; meanwhile the reverse was true for corn crop. WUE was increased with decreasing irrigation water levels from 125 to 75 of the recommended irrigation water (8092 mV ha). The results obtained have strongly coincided with the definition of land equivalent ratios (LERs). It was not affected significantly by applied levels of irrigation water but the converse was true for cropping systems and the interaction between preJvious-factors. LERs of intercropping culture ranged betweep 1.39 and 1.52 as compared to solid plantings (1.0). WAter use F 'efficiency (WUE) was increased by decreasing applied irrigation water levels from 125 to 75 of recomfcnended irrigation water level. High population densities of the intercrops with application 100 of applied irrigation water achieved the highest LERas well as WUE and could be recommended for Egyptian farmers.