Peas and Barley Grown in the Strip-Till One Pass Technology as Row Intercropping Components in Sustainable Crop Production

Abstract

Simplified, ploughless tillage and multi-species, multifunctional crop production are important components of sustainable agriculture. Technologies that combine these components can play an even greater pro-ecological role in modern agriculture. The claim is made that row intercropping of spring barley and peas, along with strip tillage, is an alternative to traditional methods of sowing cereals and legumes. This hypothesis was verified in a three-year field experiment in which row intercropping of barley and peas (alternating every row) was compared with traditional mixed-crop, within-row cropping (plants of each species in each row) and pure sowing of each species. Row intercropping of barley and peas using strip-till, one-pass technology, as compared with mixed-crop, within-row, improved the uniformity of plant emergence and plant density of peas before harvesting and reduced weed infestation. The productivity of barley and peas was higher than with pure sowing by 8.5% and 10.2%, respectively, and the productivity of peas was also higher by 38.9% than when sowing in mixed-crop, within-row. The yield of barley grain/seeds and peas under row-intercropping was 1.75 t ha−1 higher than the yield of pea seeds with pure sowing, and 0.79 t ha−1 lower than the yield of barley in pure sowing. On the other hand, the yield of grain/seed protein under this mixture was similar to the pea protein yield with pure sowing and 109 kg ha−1 higher than the barley protein yield with pure sowing. The positive results should inspire further research to obtain a better understanding of the conditions and effects of growing grains with legumes with strip-till one-pass technology.