Effect of intercropping bush bean populations with maize on agronomic traits and their implications for selection

摘要

The effect of intercropping bush bean with maize on several agronomic traits was studied for 25 populations of bush bean. These populations were grown in two field trials in the northwest of Spain in two consecutive years. Population means differed little between cropping systems. Significant differences among populations were found for all characters except end of flowering, period of flowering and pod yield. There were neither cropping system nor populations × cropping system effects for the characters studied. There were significant environment × population interactions in some cases, and this could cause difficulties for future breeding programs. The results suggest that under these environmental conditions, selection under either cropping system would be effective for both.