Speaker
Description
Intercropping offers vital benefits, particularly under abiotic stress conditions. It enhances resource utilization, abiotic stress management, biodiversity conservation, and soil health, making it an innovative cropping system to sustain agriculture. This study assesses the agronomical performance (growth, yield, and nutrient use efficiency) of field-grown faba bean and wheat intercrops compared to sole crops under the combined constraints of drought and phosphorus (P) deficiency. Field experiments were conducted during two successive years in P-deficient farmers’ fields in the semi-arid Haouz area of Morocco, using Faba bean (Vicia faba L. cv. Aguadulce) and wheat (Triticum durum L. cv. Karim) as sole or intercrops. Irrigation regimes consisted of 80% Field capacity (FC) for control plots and 40% FC for stressed plots. The positive controls received 80 kg/ha of P2O5, while the combined stress plots received no P. Plant growth was assessed at the flowering stage, and yield and seed quality parameters were determined at the maturity stage. Intercropping significantly improved wheat biomass of shoots and roots, reaching 6.63 g plant-1 and 1.06 g plant-1, respectively, compared to sole-cropped plants with 2.56 g plant-1 and 0.52 g plant-1 under combined stress. Intercropped wheat plants exhibited a 77.14% increase in total nitrogen, 66.67% in P, and 113.33% in potassium contents, compared to sole crops, under combined stress. Additionally, grain yield, spike length, grain total proteins, and starch contents were significantly improved by 23.39, 26.12, 1.93, and 3.29%, respectively, for wheat plants intercropped under combined stress compared to sol crop. Intercropping with faba bean emerges as a promising strategy to enhance wheat production under stressful conditions, particularly in low input agrosystems.
