Effect of Intercropping Patterns of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgarMill), Sesame (Sesamum indicum) and Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) on Growth, Qualitative and Quantitative Characters and Yield Components

Ecological agriculture is an integrated system that gives credit to higher quality of products. Using of ecological agriculture and low input systems or other similar systems as a replacement for conventional systems turn out to progress in sustainable agriculture and protecting environment health. One of the best approaches to achieve these goals is to use mixed farming. Many experiments have shown that mixed farming has higher yield than sole cropping. The other benefits of mixed farming are: management of insects, weeds and diseases, promotion of diversity, improvement of products quality and also increase in stability and sustainability. These goals also achieved by decreasing in use of non-renewable resources and also reducing environment risks. Hence, assessment of intercropping patterns of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgar), Sesame (Sesamum indicum) and Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) on qualitative and quantitative characters and yield components were the purposes of this experiment.
In order to study yield and yield components in different intercrops of fennel, sesame and bean, an experiment was conducted in Agricultural Research Station, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during 2010-2011growing season. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block with three¬ replications. The treatments were consisted of: pure stand of fennel, sesame and bean, row intercropping of sesame-bean with recommended density (1:1), fennel-bean (1:1), fennel-sesame (1:1) and intercrops of fennel- sesame - bean (1:1:1). The field of experiment was prepared at the end of March, a month before sowing; 30 ton/ hectare manure fertilizer was used. Because of sowing these 3 crops in a low input system, non-chemical approaches to control weeds and diseases during the growth season were employed. In order to determine crops seed yield and their biological yield in this experiment, sampling was done after omitting of margin effects (0.5 m first and end of each row) and 8 m2 area was harvested. All harvested crops were dried under free condition and shadow, then was weighted and after that seeds were separated from crops. To measure yield components five samples were selected. For fennel: umbel number per plant, umbellate number per plant, seed number per umbellate, 1000 seed weight, for sesame: capsule number per plant, seed number per capsule and 1000 seed weight and for bean: pod number per plant, seed number per pod and 1000 seed weight were measured.
Results indicated that the yield and yield components of intercropped and pure fennel treatments significantly affect grain and biological yield, harvest index, the number of umbels per plant, the number of fertile umbellates per plant, and vegetative essential oil. In addition, these treatments in sesame showed significant effect on biological yield, grain yield, harvest index, plant height and seed weight per capsule. The results for bean revealed significant effects on biological yield, grain yield and the number of seeds per pod. Moreover, the highest percentage of essential oil in fennel was obtained in fennel-sesame treatment. The highest percentage of oil in sesame was obtained in sole crop of fennel. Furthermore, the results showed that the highest LER (1.22) was observed in sesame-fennel treatment. Considering this ratio, this treatment was selected as a superior treatment among the other treatments.
An experiment on mixed cultivation of Zea maize and bean showed higher amount of biological yield, in intercropping treatments (RezvanBeydokhti et al., 2005). Another experiment on mixed cropping of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris M.)showed higher amount of seed yield in intercropping treatments and biological yield in sole cropping .