Role of Intercropping some Aromatic and Medicinal Plants with Fruit Vegetables Crops, a Review

Abstract

Crop diversification, need to maintain current levels of cropped area for food and other uses have made use of intercropping important. The trap nature of medicinal aromatic plants and has a great role for vegetable crops important for protecting damage of fruits from insect pest attack, extend the shelf life of it, maintain the quality during transportation to market like African marigold. Intercropping of medicinal and aromatic plants with different horticultural plants has a great role reducing the post-harvest yield loss, maintain the quality of fruits and increase its shelf life in storage. The aromatic nature and essential oil of MAPs enables to protect soil borne nematodes; they also protect these nematodes diseases by suppressing its adventus root system. The presence of other crops in intercropping the volatile oil is reduced because of shade. However, shading of the component crops has a negative effect on essential growth, biomass yield, oil content, composition and quality oil of MAPs. Medicinal aromatic plants are also significantly increase soil organic nitrogen, soil water content, decreased pH values and available nitrogen content. Intercropping of MAPs with other crops offers congenial conditions which it results the improvement in resource use efficiency in terms of productivity and net return per unit area.