Lettuce and lemon balm intercropping: crops productivity, yield and phytochemical quality of lemon balm’s essential oil / Consórcio entre alface e melissa: produtividade das culturas, teor e qualidade fitoquímica do óleo essencial de melissa

• Autor(a) principal: Fonseca, Maira Christina Marques
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Sediyama, Maria Aparecida N., Marques, Ana Ermelinda, Silva, Fred Denilson Barbosa da, Rocha, Ronicely Pereira da, Pinto, Cláudia Lúcia de Oliveira, Machado, Túlio I.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Veras
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.brazilianjournals.com.br/ojs/index.php/BRJD/article/view/21612
• topic: crop association; volatile compounds; land equivalent ratio; Lactuca sativa L; Melissa officinalis L; medicinal plant

Intercropping is a recommended to conserve the agroecosystem balance, but identifying which species in the intercropping benefit each other is a challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability and effect of spacing between plants in the intercropping of lettuce with lemon balm on the yield and phytochemical quality of lemon balm essential oil. Lettuce was harvested at 41 days after transplanting (DAT) and fresh and lemon balm was harvested at 69 DAT. Equivalent Area Index (EAI) was used to evaluate the intercropping between lemon balm and lettuce, which has proven feasible, since the EAI were higher than 1.0. The yield of the two species intercropped was not significantly different from that obtained in the monocropping and there was no reduction in the essential oil content. There was also an increase in the major constituents of the lemon balm essential oil.