Increasing yield of several varieties of zero-tillage sorghum through additive intercropping with soybean on permanent raised-beds
Wayan Wangiyana, Siti Zainab, Baharuddin

University of Mataram (Wayan Wangiyana)
University of 45 Mataram (Siti Zainab & Baharuddin)

Abstract

Sorghum is getting popular because of its potential for use as food ingredients, feed, and bio-ethanol production. However, there are competing interests for growing this crop because rice and maize are two most important crops in Indonesia, so intercropping could be a solution. This study aimed to examine the effects of additive intercropping several varieties of sorghum with soybean grown during a dry season on permanent raised-beds mostly used to grow rice. The experiment was carried out on farmers^ paddy fields in West Lombok (Indonesia) from June to September 2022, which was arranged according to Split Plot design, consisting of two treatment factors, namely sorghum varieties (V1= Numbu, V2= Samurai-1, V3= Super-1) and intercropping (I0= monocropped sorghum, I1= additive intercropping with soybean). The results indicated that additive intercropping by relay-planting one row of soybean between rows of sorghum significantly increased growth and yield of sorghum but sorghum varieties showed significant differences only in weight of 100 grains. However, there was a significant interaction effect on leaf number prior to anthesis and seed filling stage and growth rate of leaf number. Among the varieties, Numbu showed a significant and the highest increase (16.09%, equivalent to 363 kg/ha) in dry grain yield due to additive intercropping with soybean.

Keywords: Sorghum- zero tillage- additive intercropping- soybean

Topic: Agriculture Productivity