Effect of barley (Hordeumvulgare L.) and fababean (Viciafabae L.) intercropping on barley and fababean yield components

Abstract

Fababean and barley intercropping promotes efficient use of land, and minimize the agricultural inputs. Legume intercropped with cereal fixes molecular nitrogen from air. Understanding this, fababean and barley experiment was conducted at Debre Birhan University Research Station, Ethiopia. The treatments were sole barely (control),Sole fababean (control), 1 row barley with 1 row fababean, 2 row barley with 1 row fababean and 1 row barley with 2 row fababean. The design of the experiment was randomized block design. The result showed that tiller number of barley plant was statically significant in control, 3, and 5 treatments. Similar trend was observed in 1, 3 and 5 treatments for spike length. There was highly significant correlation between fresh and dry weight of barley and it was high in 3 and 5treatments. Similar trend was observed on tiller number and plant height in treatments 3 and 5. Significant mean difference was recorded for fresh weight in 2, 3, 4 and 5 treatments. Fababean branching was significant in treatments 2, 3 and 4.Correlation between fresh and dry weight of fababean, branch, and pod and root nodules numbers showed statistically significant differences. Branch number of fababean correlates significantly with pod and root nodules numbers. Fresh and dry weight of fababean in treatment 2 was the highest of all treatments.