Evaluation of water productivity, some quantitative and qualitative traits of sugarcane in intercropping with legume

In order to evaluate the water productivity, stem height and diameter, root dry weight, brix percentage of sugarcane, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 14 treatments and four replications during 2016-17 at two locations in Ahwaz. The treatments were: sole sugarcane, sole soybean, sole cowpea, sole soybean+ rhizobium, sole cowpea+rhizobium, sole sugarcane+mycorrhizal, intercropping sugarcane with cowpea, intercropping sugarcane with soybean, intercropping sugarcane with cowpea+rhizobium, intercropping sugarcane with soybean + rhizobium, intercropping sugarcane+mycorrhizal and cowpea, intercropping sugarcane+mycorrhizal and soybean, intercropping sugarcane+mycorrhizal and soybean+rhizobium and intercropping sugarcane + mycorrhizal and cowpea +rhizobium. The results showed that the highest water productivity, the highest sugarcane stem height, the largest diameter in the middle of the stem and at the bottom of the stem, the highest dry weight roots and the highest brix percentage of sugarcane stem extract were related to intercropped sugarcane + mycorrhizal and cowpea+ rhizobium treatment. which was 31.61, 16.14, 32.42, 28.35, 8.89, and 8.31% higher than sole sugarcane. Mycorrhizal symbiosis was positive in sugarcane, and when mycorrhizal fungi and cowpea were present simultaneously in a treatment, their synergistic effect on the evaluated traits were positive.