Characteristics of crop water consumption under maize/pea intercropping systems with different irrigation levels
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DOI:10.7606/j.issn.1000-7601.2018.01.13
Key Words: maize/pea intercropping  irrigation levels  root splitting  land equivalent ratios  water use efficiency  harvest index
Author NameAffiliation
NIU Yi-ning Gansu Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Lanzhou 730070, China 
LIU Dong-mei College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China 
LUO Zhu-zhu Gansu Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Lanzhou 730070, China 
CHAI Qiang Gansu Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Lanzhou 730070, China
College of Agronomy, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China 
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Abstract:
      A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of root splitting on water use characteristics in maize/pea intercropping system. The crop grain yield and water use efficiency (WUE) were also determined. Maize(Zea mays) and pea(Pisum satiyum) monoculture and their intercropping, with three irrigation strategies and three root separation methods as the main treatments were evaluated at oasis agriculture area in Wuwei city, Gansu Province from April to October, 2011. Plastic film separation, nylon mesh separation and non-separation as three root separation methods in maize/pea intercropping treatment, while the amount of water irrigation with local traditional apply (high level), less than traditional irrigation by 10% (medium level) and less than traditional irrigation by 20% (low level) as three irrigation strategies was used at crop growing period. Results showed that maize/pea intercropping increased the land equivalent ratios (LER) and crop WUE by 13.01%~42.13% and 3.07%~43.38% compared with monoculture, respectively. Crop grain yield and aboveground biomass of different maize/pea intercropping treatments were increased by 12.90%~30.45% compared to monoculture. Grain yield of root without separation treatments were 13.79%~17.17% higher than the root separated with plastic film, and 1.12%~3.52% higher than root separated by nylon treatment. The amount of water consumes was not significantly different between the medium irrigation treatment (10% lower than traditional irrigation) and local traditional irrigation, but it was significantly decreased than the lower irrigation (20% lower than traditional irrigation) treatment. In conclusion, compared to monoculture cropping, maize/pea intercropping system was beneficial to increase the LER and improve crop yield. Root splitting had no benefit on crop yield improvement and on LER increasing in intercropping system.