Evaluation of Yield and Growth of Dragon’s Head (Lallemantia iberica (M. Bieb.) Fisch. & C.A. Mey.) Intercropped with Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) Under the Application of Nitroxin Biofertilizer and Urea

Abstract

Nowadays, application of intercropping and biofertilizers play an important role in sustainable agriculture. Thus, in order to evaluate the effect of application of chemical and biological fertilizers on purslane/dragon’s head intercropping, a factorial experiment was conducted on the basis of completely randomized block design with three replications at the Agricultural and Environmental Research station of Hamadan in 2015. The first factor had five levels, including purslane monoculture, dragon’s head monoculture, and purslane/dragon’s head intercropping with ratios of 100:25, 100:50, 100:75 (purslane:dragons’head, respectively). The second factor had four levels, including no application of fertilizers and application of nitrogenous chemical fertilizer (urea), nitroxin biofertilizer inoculation and combination of 50% urea + nitroxin inoculation. Results showed that intercropping increased relative chlorophyll of the both species. The highest seed yield of dragon’s head (172.80 g.m-2) was recorded in monocultured dragon’s head with the application of 50% urea + nitroxin inoculation. Fertilizers increased seed mucilage yield in dragon’s head. The highest mucilage yield (3.04 g.m-2) was also observed in 50% urea + nitroxin inoculation. Evaluation of relative yield total (RYT) and land equivalent ratio (LER) showed that intercropping of 50% dragons’ head + 100% purslane and 50% urea + nitroxin inoculation had more efficient compared to other treatments