Utilization of prolific corn cultivars in intercropping systems with bean

• Autor(a) principal: Cruz, José Carlos
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Ramalho, Magno Antonio Patto, Salles, Luis Tadeu Graça de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://seer.sct.embrapa.br/index.php/pab/article/view/14303
• topic: Zea mays; Phaseolus vulgaris; corn prolificity; Zea mays; Phaseolus vulgaris; densidade de plantas

Three experiments were conducted in order to verify whether or not corn (Zea mays L.) cultivars selected for prolificity could compensate for productivity reduction due to decrease in plant population, both in monoculture and intercropping with bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Two of the experiments were conducted at the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Milho e Sorgo (CNPMS) at Sete Lagoas, MG, Brazil, in the years 1983/84 and 1984/85, and the other one at the Escola Superior de Agricultura de Lavras (ESAL), at Lavras, MG, Brazil, in 1984/85. The whole treatments were corn cultivars and a combination of three plant populations (20, 40 and 60 thousand plants/hectare), in monoculture and intercropping with beans. In the intercropping system, the planting was simultaneous in the same line. Bean productivity increased linearly with decrease in com population. Average corn productivity at the 20 thousand plants/ha level was 20% smaller compared to the productivity at the 40 thousand plants/ ha level, when considering the average of three places and of the other treatments. However, the ear index in the smaller population was 30.8% higher than the one at high population. The cultivars utilized presented similar behavior, being equally affected by the presence of bean and by plant population. When grain production was evaluated together (corn and bean), it was noted that an increase in beans productivity in the smaller populations compensated for the reduction in corn productivity in this condition.