Effect of Cultivar on Faba Bean–Wheat Intercrop Productivity under a Mediterranean Environment

Abstract

The term intercropping is used to describe agricultural systems where at least two or more species are cultivated in the same field for a portion of their biological cycle. It is an ancient agricultural practice that, with the evolution of agriculture, the prevalence of intensive cultivation systems, and the use of multiple inputs became mostly restricted to developing countries. However, due to climate instability and uncertainty about weather conditions, interest in intercropping has been revived in recent years. The objective of the present study was to determine which faba bean cultivar can be used with wheat cultivars to achieve higher yields and to examine the interaction between the cultivars in intercropping systems. It was found that the combination of Flamenko with Polycarpi gave the highest yield and showed complementarity in the interaction between these cultivars that also have the highest yield; also, the other indices that were used showed a good response on the intercropping system and the LER was 1.30 and 1.19 for the first and the second year of the study, respectively. Therefore, there are faba bean and wheat cultivars that are better adapted to intercropping conditions and can be utilized by farmers to enhance productivity.