Evaluation of alternative series of Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolus) and tow millet (Panicum miliaceum) intercropping effects on some quantitative and quality traits and forage yield

Intercropping is one of the most effective methods to achieve sustainable production with low input to increase the diversity in agro ecosystems. In these systems two or more plants are cultivated at a same time and place in order to increase the efficiency of the resources usage. Based on results, the intercropping bring about the improvement of qualitative and quality characteristics and forage yield. In order to Evaluation of Tepary bean and millet intercropping effects on some quantitative and quality traits and forage yield, this study was done in Jiroft area. The field experiment was done in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications in Jiroft during 2015-2016. The treatments included combination of Tepary bean and two cultivars of millet (Bastan and Pishahang) and replacement intercropping ratio (75:25, 50:50, 25:75 Tepary bean- millet, sole cropping of Bastan millet, Pishahang millet and Tepary bean with 300000 plants/ha. Planting date was on 27th April. Millet and Tepary bean harvested on May and June, respectively. Traits such as Plant height of bean, Number of secondary branch of bean, Leaf dry weight of bean, Plant height of millet, Leaf dry weight of millet, Steam dry weight of millet, Dry forage yield of bean, Dry forage of millet, Total dry forage NDF, ADF, crude protein yield and LER were measured. Data analyses were conducted using SAS ver. 12 and analysis of means was done with the LSD’s test. The results showed that interaction of millet cultivars and intercropping ratio was affected dry forage of Tepary bean. The highest amount of Tepary bean dry forage was obtained from 50: 50 Tepary bean-millet cultivars percentage. Despite the lack of significant mutual effect of these two treatments on millet dry forage, the effect of millet cultivars in mixture and the mixing ratio on this trait was significant at 1% level. The highest amount was obtained from the presence of millet cultivars increasing by 87.8% with 25: 75 treatment of Tepary bean-millet cultivar. Statistically, there was not a great difference between this ratio and 50: 50 mixing ratio. The highest amount of dry forage was obtained from 50: 50 Tepary bean-millet cultivar with 12.59% and 87.57% increase compared to the single cropping of Tepary bean and millet cultivars percentage. Statistically, there was not a great difference between the performance of this treatment and 50: 50 treatment of Tepary bean-millet cultivar and saw the least ADF, NDF and the most crude protein yield in intercropping treatment. In all treatments, the parity ratio of the land was more than one. The highest amount was observed in the mixture of 50: 50 treatment of Tepary bean- Bastan cultivar. According to this results, the intercropping of Tepary bean and millet was much better than their pure cropping so that the highest amount of dry forage was obtained from 50: 50 of Tepary bean-millet cultivars compared to the sole cropping of Tepary bean with 12.59% dry forage and millet cultivar with 87.57% dry forage. The LER also indicates the superiority of this mixing ratio compared to single cropping of these two plants. Therefore, in general, the intercropping treatment of these two plants with 50:50 ratio is an appropriate method to replace the pure culture of these plants.