Density and arrangement of Crops in Maize/Faba Bean Intercropping

Intercropping is the practice of growing more than one crop simultaneously on the same land. Maintaining optimum density and making suitable arrangement of the component crops are crucial for enhancing biological efficiency and maximizing productivity of intercropping mixtures. In this book effects of plant density and arrangement in maize-faba bean intercropping system are evaluated. It was illustrated that the grain yields of the component crops, LER, economic advantages and soil nitrogen and organic matter dynamics were found to respond differently for different crop density and arrangements. The highest maize grain yield was resulted from the 100% Mz: 75% Fb plant density in 1Mz: 2 Fb plant arrangement. The 1Mz: 2 Fb plant arrangement was also found to give higher faba bean grain yields than the 1Mz: 1Fbplant arrangement. The best treatment also gave the highest LER as well as the better economic advantage with highest net return. Moreover, the intercropping resulted in increased total soil nitrogen and organic matter percentage after the crops harvest than sole maize planting ensuring environmentally sound and sustainable crop production