Full Length Research Paper

A study on the qualitative and quantitative traits of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and narbon vetch (Vicia narbonensis L.) in intercropping and sole cropping system under the interference and control of weeds in dry land farming conditions of Iran

Khosro Azizi¹*, Alireza Daraei Mofrad¹, Saeid Heidari¹, Majid Amini Dehaghi², Danial Kahrizi³*

¹Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, University of Lorestan, Khorramabad,  Iran.

²Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, University of Shahed, Tehran, Iran.

³Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: azizi_kh44@yahoo.com; dkahrizi@yahoo.com.

Abbreviations: ADL, Acid detergent lignin; CP, crude protein; NDF, neutral detergent fibers; ADF, acid detergent fiber; BNF, biological nitrogen fixation.

Accepted 23 September, 2010

   Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of intercropping and sole cropping of barley and narbon vetch with weed control and interference conditions on their qualitative and quantitative traits, this experiment was conducted with 5 levels of intercropping (seed contribution): sole cropping of narbon vetch, 75:25 (narbon vetch : barley), 50:50, 25:75 and sole cropping of barley. Two levels of weed control and weed interference in row replacement series system in the form of factorial was designed with Randomized Complete Blocked Design (RCBD) in 3 replications in the College of Agriculture, Lorestan University, from 2006 - 2007. Results showed that the interaction of weed and the contribution of complementary components of intercropping has significant effect on crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fibers (NDF) content in barley. Maximum CP and NDF were related to sole cropping of barley (infected by weeds), and maximum CP with minimum NDF were related to (narbon vetch: barley) 75:25 treatment, so that 31% of CP decreased in sole cropping of barley (infected by weeds) when compared with 75:25 combination. NDF percentage in sole cropping increased to 16.6%, therefore 25:75 (narbon vetch: barley) combination was better than the others. So, in order to get proper percentage of protein and digestibility of forage for livestock, 75:25 (infected by weeds) combination is better, especially the combination of 25:75 (infected by weeds), due to its high protein content. The highest and lowest dry forage production of barley were related to its sole cropping (a control which is equal to 3.75 t/ha) and 75:25 barley (infected by weeds that are equal to 1.59 t/ha), respectively.

Key words:  Qualitative and quantitative, barley, narbon vetch, weed, dry land.