Effect of different fertilizer sources on growth Forage yield and advantageous indices of chicory-annual medic intercrops

In order to investigate the effect of different sources of fertilizer and patterns of mixed cultivation of chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) and annual medic (Medicago scutellata) on agromorphological characteristics and forage yield a factorial experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications .The first factor was different fertilizer sources (Chemical, Organic and Integrated (including; . Chemical fertilizer (urea + triple super phosphate) ,Vermicompost fertilizer and Combined fertilizer (50% chemical fertilizer + nitroxin biofertilizer + fertile phosphate 2) and the second factor was 5 levels of intercropping patterns including: pure cultivation of chicory, pure cultivation of annual medic, one row of chicory: one row of annual medic, One row of chicory: two rows of annual medic and two rows of chicory: one row of annual medic. Studied traits for chicory and medic were including: plant height, number of sub-branches, number of leaves per plant, chlorophyll index, leaf area index, dried forage yield and advantageous indices in intercropping including land equivalent ratio (LER), actual yield loss (AYL) and intercropping advantage (IA). The maximum dried yield of chicory and annual medic (4 and 4.6 ton.ha-1 ,respecyively) obtained in pure cultivation and chemical fertilizer source, which was not significantly different from pure cultivation and vermicompost and integrated fertilizer sources. Considering the total yield of two crops, and land equivalency ratio higher than one, the mixed ratios of chicory-medic with vermicompost and combined fertilizer sources were beneficial compared to sole cropping of each crops.