Improving winter wheat yield and quality by wheat-legume intercropping in organic farming sytems

Abstract

Intercropping, a traditional agricultural practice that maximizes crop yield and resource usage effectiveness. However, changes in the types of legumes and field management can alter the response of crop functions. A three-year experiment was conducted in Prague and České Budějovice to test the influence of legume species and legume management practices in winter wheat-legume intercropping on grain yield and quality of wheat in organic farming. Intercropping of wheat and legume species did not influence wheat grain yield, but the technological quality of wheat improved. Wheat + spring pea (W + Sp) responds the best to the grain yield and baking quality among intercropping systems, followed by wheat + faba bean (W + Fa) for grain yield and wheat + winter pea (W + Wi) for baking quality. Higher protein content in W + Sp and W + Wi intercropping compared to sole wheat by 5 and 5.4%. Wet gluten was higher in W + Wi than in wheat sown alone by 11%. There was no significant difference in volume weight, falling number, and Zeleny sedimentation under the effect of wheat and different legume species intercropping. Mixed intercropping was recorded better than row intercropping in our condition, considering both wheat grain yield and baking quality respect. To conclude, achieving wheat yield and grain quality under the impact of winter wheat and legume intercropping requires considering the optimal solution based on legume species and different conditions to achieve the desired response.