Row intercropping of borage (Borago officinalis L.) with bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) on possible evaluating of the best strip width and assessing of its ecological characteristics

In order to investigate the effects of row intercropping of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) with borage (Borago officinalis L.) on its ecological characteristics such as weed and insect diversity, composition and density and their yield and evaluating of the best strip width, a field experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran during growing reason of 2009-2010. Treatments included one row of bean + one row of borage (1:1), two rows of bean + two rows of borage (2:2), three rows of bean + three rows of borage (3:3), four rows of bean + four rows of borage (4:4) and pure bean and borage. Results indicated that the highest economic yield of bean and borage were achieved in monoculture with 4.46 and 0.12 t.ha-1 and 4:4 with 2.30 and 0.05 t.ha-1, respectively. The row intercropping of bean with borage and strip width affected its ecological characteristics such as weed diversity, density and dry matter. With increasing crop diversity, weed density and dry matter decreased. The lowest and the highest weed dry matter were observed in pure bean and two rows of bean + two rows of borage, respectively. The maximum population of biological predators and pets were obtained in two rows of bean + two rows of borage (20.3%) and pure bean (20.5%), respectively. In general, row intercropping of common bean with borage increased land equivalent ratio, and strip width of 2:2 (1.55) was the most promising one.