Effect of Additive Intercropping System on Yield, Yield Components and Efficiency Indices of Hyssopus officinalis and Plantago ovate Forsk

This research was conducted in order to measure of yield, yield components and some indices of intercropping and determination of the best intercropping ration in two medicinal plants Hyssopus officinalis and Plantago ovate.  

The experiment was carried out as a randomized complete block design with seven treatments and three replications in the field of research of Jiroft University. The treatments including 100% H. officinalis + 20% P. ovata (H100: P20), 100% H. officinalis + 40% P. ovata (H100: P40), 100% H. officinalis + 60% P. ovata (H100: P60), 100% H. officinalis + 80% P. ovata (H100: P80), 100% H. officinalis + 100% P. ovata (H100: P100) and single crop of two species (H100) and (P100). The studied characteristics including plant height, number of branches, biomass yield, essence percentage in H. officinalis and plant height, number of spikes per plant, 100-seed weight, grain yield and harvesting index in P. ovate. Evaluation of efficiency and usefulness intercropping by Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) and system productivity index (SPI) were used.  

The results showed that all the studied traits except biomass yield of Hyssopus officinalis were significantly affected by different intercropping ratios in this study. The highest seed yield and biological yield in P. ovate were obtained in single crop 3393.3 and 4286.6 kg.ha-1, respectively. The highest essence percentage was obtained from single crop of H. officinalis that no significant difference with H100:P20 (161773 and 135842 g.ha-1). Maximum LER (1.41) and SPI (21998) were obtained in H100: P80.  

The LER for all intercropping treatments was greater than one which indicates that intercropping had advantage over sole crop. According to the results of the study H100: P80 can be suggested as the best cropping pattern in region.