Author/Authors :
Sadeghpour، A. نويسنده , , Jahanzad، E. نويسنده Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agronomy and Animal Sciences, University of Tehran, Karaj, Tehran, Iran. Jahanzad, E. , Lithourgidis، A.S. نويسنده Department of Agronomy, Aristotle University Farm of Thessaloniki, 570 01 Thermi, Greece , , Hashemi، M. نويسنده , , Esmaeili، A. نويسنده , , Hosseini، M.B. نويسنده Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, University of Tehran, Karaj, Tehran, Iran ,
Abstract :
On-farm production of protein is limited in most dairy farm operations in arid
and semi-arid environments. Cereal-legume intercropping could be a viable option
to obtain forage with higher protein content. A two-year experiment was conducted
during 2009 and 2010 growing seasons in a loamy soil to determine whether
intercropping pattern of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and annual medic (Medicago
scutellata L.) could increase forage quality while producing sufficient amount of
forage yield. The results showed that when number of rows in 50:50 replacement
intercropping decreased from six rows of barley and six rows of medic (6B:6M)
(strip intercropping) to 4B:4M, 2B:2M and 1B:1M, barley forage yield increased
by 9, 18 and 24% due to a wavy canopy created by 1B:1M and 2B:2M cropping
ratios. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was highest (1.19) when barley was
intercropped with annual medic in 1B:1M arrangement indicating that 19% more
area would be required by a sole cropping system to yield similar of intercropping
system. The highest protein yield was also obtained from 1B:1M ratio. Pure stand
of annual medic had the highest Crude Protein (CP) content (310.7 g kg-1 of DM)
whereas sole cropping of barley had the highest Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and
Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF). When both forage yield and quality was considered,
the intercropping of barley and medic with 1B:1M ratio was superior to any other
ratios and can be recommended to farmers as an alternative to barley alone.
