Impact of irrigation regimes on productivity and profitability of maize + peanut intercropping system in Upper Egypt

Good management of soil and water use is one of the most important factors in agricultural sustainability, and intercropping systems are an important component of good agricultural practices. Thus, a field experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm of Arab Al-Awamer Research Station, Assiut Governorate, Agriculture Research Center, Egypt, during the summer seasons of 2021 and 2022 to investigate the effect of maize (M) + peanut (P) intercropping system on productivity, water use efficiency, and profitability at varying irrigation regimes. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design using a split-plot arrangement with three replicates. Irrigation regimes (120, 100 and 80% ETc) were assigned to the main plots, while the intercropping systems (100% P + 25% M, 100% P + 33% M and 100% P + 50% M) were allocated to the sub-plots. The results showed that most traits of peanut and maize decreased substantially under the 80% ETc irrigation regime. While the largest values of traits were associated with the 120 % ETc. Averaged across the two seasons, the highest values of net return (1,441 US$/ha) were obtained when 100% peanut plants were intercropped with 25% maize at 120% ETc irrigation regime. Therefore, we recommend intercrop maize (25%) with peanut (100%) irrigated with 120% ETc to achieve higher yields and net return. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1041338