Faba Bean Yield and Water Productivity as Affected by Irrigation and Intercropping Systems

Abstract

Irrigation with intensive intercropping, in water scarce region is evaluated and optimized. Water productivity (WP) is taken as an indicator and quantified. A field experiment was carried out in Sakha Agricultural Research Station in Egypt during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons. A split plot design was applied, main plots were devoted for irrigation treatments of two (I1), three (I2) and four (I3) irrigations. Whereas fennouil, red radish and brassica crops were intercropped with faba bean in the sub-plots. Results showed that the highest yield and yield attributes of faba bean were obtained from irrigation treatment of I3, faba bean with fennouil intercropping and the interaction between faba bean intercropping with fennouil and irrigation treatment of I3 in both seasons. Water consumptive use was increased by 17% and 24% after irrigation treatment of I2 and I3 compared to I1. Applied water were reduced by 21.6% and 8.2% for I1 and I2 compared to I3. The highest value of WP was obtained from the interaction between irrigation treatment I3 and faba bean with fennouil intercropping. It could be concluded that applying the interaction of I1 and faba bean with fennouil intercropping, because it saved significant amount of irrigation water and enhanced water productivity.