Intercropping Pattern and N Fertilizer Schedule Affect the Performance of Additively Intercropped Maize and Forage Cowpea in the Mediterranean Region

Intercropping maize and forage cowpea is a widely proposed strategy to improve land use efficiency, and maximize the economic value of the farming system, especially in developing countries with restricted resources. The current study was carried out during the successive summers of 2020 and 2021 in Northern Egypt. The main objective was to evaluate the effect of three N schedules (NS1, NS2, NS3), when three different maize–cowpea intercropping patterns (IP1, IP2, IP3) were applied, on the grain yield of maize, forage yield and quality of forage cowpea. In addition, yield gain and land use efficiency were evaluated using the land equivalent ratio (LER) and dry matter equivalent ratio (DMER) indices. Results revealed that the intercropping patterns that provided wider spacings for the component crops and reduced the competition between them, mainly IP3, resulted in the best performances for the two crops. This was clear for maize ear and grain yields, 100-grain weight and harvest index, in addition to cowpea fresh and dry forage yields, crude protein and non-fiber carbohydrates of the three cuts. Regarding the applied N schedules, NS1 which included the application of a N starter dose with sowing proved to be the most efficient schedule that led to the best performance for both crops. Maize produced 9.07 t ha−1 grain yield under IP3 and NS1. In addition, the application of IP3 resulted in the highest significant cowpea dry forage yield (DFY), with the highest crude protein (CP) content. The DFY of cuts 1, 2, and 3 amounted to 1.27, 0.45, and 0.24 t ha−1, while the CP content for the three respective cuts reached 159.49, 157.96, and 148.91 g kg−1. Nonetheless, NS1 produced a reasonable amount of DFY with high CP content. It is recommended to follow the third proposed intercropping pattern (IP3) and to include a nitrogen starter dose (NS1) in the fertilization scheme to ensure highest productivity from the intercropped maize and forage cowpea.

Land Equivalent Ratio of Cowpea–Sorghum Relay Intercrop as Affected by Different Cattle Manure Application Rates Under Smallholder Farming System

Poor soil fertility is a major challenge to crop production in the communal farming areas of Zimbabwe. Intercropping legumes and cereals is a common soil fertility management technology among the farmers. A 3-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate cowpea–sorghum relay intercropping advantages in response to different cattle manure application rates. A 3 × 4 factorial experiment laid in a completely randomized block design (CRBD) with three replicates was conducted. The treatments were three cropping systems (sorghum sole, cowpea sole, and cowpea–sorghum intercrop) and four cattle manure application rates (0, 50, 75, and 100%). Crop growth rate (CGR), grain yield, harvest index (HI), relative competitive ability of each crop, and land equivalent ratio (LER) were measured. Analysis of variance and non-linear regression analyses were done to determine the yield benefits of cowpea–sorghum intercrop and estimate the relative competitive ability, respectively. Application of >75% cattle manure in a cowpea–sorghum intercrop enhanced the sorghum grain yield (75%) and HI (125%) of unmanured cowpea–sorghum plots. Cowpeas had higher CGR (159.6, 166.7 and 149.5 g m−2 day−1 at 7, 21, and 35 days after planting, respectively) at >75% cattle manure application rates on both intercrop and sole cropping than sorghum but with lower grain yield (1.4 t ha−1). Intraspecific competitive stress in sorghum was reduced at a high (>75%) quantity of manure applied. The effects of the intraspecific competition in cowpea were stronger (0.693) on grain yield than biomass at >75% manure application rates. The LER was >1 in all the treatments and was highest (2.73) under the cowpea–sorghum relay intercrop without cattle manure. Cattle manure application at 75% in a cowpea–sorghum intercrop enhanced the grain yield in sorghum and vegetative growth in cowpeas. It is therefore recommended to use the >75% cattle manure application rate in the intercrop if one wants higher grain in sorghum and high biomass in cowpeas possibly for fodder. Further studies are recommended to quantify the rate of increase in available N under the cowpea–sorghum relay intercrop with >75% cattle manure application rates.

Beet-arugula intercropping under green manuring and planting density induce to agro-economic advantages

ABSTRACT One of the biggest challenges in the intercropping system of two crops is to obtain the optimal dose of green manure and the adequate population density of the crops. So, the objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of beet and arugula intercropping, influenced by green manuring with Merremia aegyptia and Calotropis procera and arugula population densities in two cultivation years, in semi-arid environment. The experimental design used was in randomized complete blocks, with the treatments arranged in a 4 x 4 factorial scheme, with 4 repetitions. The first factor of this scheme consisted of equitable amounts of M. aegyptia and C. procera biomass (20, 35, 50 and 65 t ha-1 on a dry basis) and the second factor, by arugula population densities (40, 60, 80 and 100% of the recommended density for single cropping, corresponding to 400, 600, 800 and 1,000 thousand arugula plants ha-1). The production and its components were evaluated on beet and arugula. In addition to these characteristics, the following agro-economic indicators were also determined for each treatment: system productivity index (SPI), land equivalent coefficient (LEC) and monetary equivalent ratio (MER). The greatest agro-economic advantages of the beet with arugula intercropping were achieved with a system productivity index (SPI) of 53.47 t ha-1, land equivalent coefficient (LEC) of 0.84 and a monetary equivalent ratio (MER) of 1.56, respectively, combining 65 t ha-1 of M. aegyptia and C. procera biomass with the arugula population density of 1,000 thousand plants ha-1. The maximum optimized commercial productivity of beetroots in the system intercropped with arugula was 23.20 t ha-1 using 65 t ha-1 of M. aegyptia and C. procera and in the arugula population density of 1,000 thousand plants ha-1, while the maximum arugula productivity intercropped with beet was 9.65 t ha-1, in the same combination of green manures amount and arugula population density.

Performance of Different Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) based Intercropping Systems with Millets under Rainfed Condition of Odisha

Background: Groundnut as a sole crop is affected by adverse weather conditions coupled with damage by insect, pest and disease, results in economic losses and in extreme cases complete failure of the crop. Intercropping is one of the important cropping systems recommended to mitigate the aberrant climatic conditions with an aim to increase total productivity per unit area. The present study was done to assess the effect of different millet based intercropping system on growth and yield of groundnut under rainfed condition. Methods: A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2018 and 2019 at Agricultural Research Farm of All India Coordinated Research Project on Groundnut, OUAT, Bhubaneswar on mixed red and black medium soil. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design and replicated thrice. It consisted of ten treatments comprising of groundnut with three millets viz., finger millet, little millet and foxtail millet. Millets were intercropped with groundnut in the replacement series of 4:2 and 2:1 row proportion along with mono-cropped millets and groundnut. Result: Significantly higher no. branches/plant (5.2), leaflet/no. plant (79.33) and dry matter accumulation (25.77g/plant) was recorded in groundnut + finger millet (2:1) whereas, sole groundnut incurred significantly higher pod no/plant (16.5), 100 kernel weight (37.2g), shelling% (77.8), pod yield (1736 kg/ha) and haulm yield (3613 kg/ha) over all other intercropping systems. Further, groundnut pod equivalent yield (GPEY), land equivalent ratio (LER), area time equivalent ratio (ATER) and economics were higher in 2:1 row ratio of groundnut + finger millet compared to any of the sole and intercropping systems. The competition ratio and aggressivity of little millet was greater than that of other millets. So, it was most dominant crop over groundnut compared to other millets in the intercropping systems.

Pengembangan lembar kegiatan siswa (LKS) berbsdis pengajaran dan pembelajaran kontekstual (CTL) pada materi perbandingan senilai dan berbalik nilai untuk siswa kelas VII

The aim of this research are to describe development procedure and produce the worksheet based on Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) in equivalent ratio and reciprocal equivalent ratio subject at seventh grade students with three criteria, namely valid, practical, and effective. The procedure in this research was adapted of Plomp which consist from three phases that are preliminary research, prototyping phase, and assessment phase. This research produces a product in the form student’s worksheet that are valid, practice, and effective. The score of worksheet validation is it 3.09 with the valid criteria. The practicability percentage is it 87.3 percent with the practice criteria and the effectiveness percentage is it 87,5 percent which means that the developed student’s worksheet is effective and can be applied in learning. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan prosedur pengembangan dan menghasilkan Lembar Kegiatan Siswa (LKS) berbasis pengajaran dan pembelajaran kontekstual (CTL) pada materi perbandingan senilai dan berbalik nilai untuk siswa kelas VII yang valid, praktis, dan efektif. Prosedur dalam penelitian ini diadaptasi dari Plomp yang terdiri dari 3 tahapan yaitu preliminary research, prototyping phase, dan assessment phase. Penelitian ini menghasilkan produk berupa LKS yang telah memenuhi kriteria valid, praktis, dan efektif. Diperoleh skor kevalidan yaitu 3,09 dengan kriteria valid. Persentase kepraktisan yaitu 87,3 persen, dengan kriteria praktis dan persentase keefektifan sebesar 87,5 persen yang artinya LKS yang dikembangkan sudah efektif dan dapat diterapkan dalam pembelajaran.

Comparative Study on Profitability of Sorghum-Legumes Intercropping Systems in Ethiopia

The imbalance between the crop production and population growth is currently the major issue in Ethiopia. To feed the growing population, increasing the production of food through growing more crop types in the same field as an intercropping is the right strategy. The study was aimed at evaluating the profitability of sorghum-legume intercropping on yield of sorghum. Intercropping sorghum with legumes crops increases the land productivity as its Land Equivalent Ratio is greater than one. In these cases, the land equivalent ratio is greater than one indicating the benefits of intercropping. In general, legume crops contributed to the yield of sorghum either intercropped with legume or grown up using residual contribution of legumes after a year. Therefore, for maximum sorghum production, farmers should plant either as intercrop or after residual effect of legumes crops. In addition to agronomic parameters used to compare the advantages of any cropping system in small scale farming conditions, total gross monetary value is also used to evaluate economic advantages of intercropping system.

KARAKTERISTIK TERMAL CAMPURAN BIOSOLAR DAN BIODIESEL MINYAK BIJI RANDU (CEIBA PENTANDRA)

Research involving thermal characteristics of mixture of biodiesel from kapok (ceibapentandra) and biosolar has been conducted. Biosolar and biodiesel mixed with 5 different composition:B0 (100% biodiesel), B10 (10% biodiesel), B20, B30, and B100 (100% biodiesel). Laboratory experimentwas conducted to obtain several fuel characteristics: heating value, flash point, density, and viscosity.Biosolar is evaporated at a temperature of 120°C and then the steam is flowed to a bunsen burner with afixed discharge (2 ml/minute) and mixed with air in the equivalent ratio variation (φ) 0.8; 1; and 1,2 andturned on. The resulting flame was recorded with the camera and an analysis of the flame was carriedout. Thermal characteristics of this biodiesel have properties in accordance with biosolar standards ofPT Pertamina Indonesia. The heating value of biosolar is 10,602 cal/gram and biodiesel is 8,641cal/gram, and the mixture has heating value among them. As for the characteristics of the flame with highheat values, the core of the flame is covered in blue which shows the highest heat value.

Effect Of Equivalent Ratio (ER) On the Flow and Combustion Characteristics in A Typical Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Cavity

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is thought to be the most favourable clean coal technology option from geological-engineering-environmental viewpoint (less polluting and high efficiency) for extracting energy from coal without digging it out or burning it on the surface. UCG process requires only injecting oxidizing agent (O2 or air with steam) as raw material, into the buried coal seam, at an effective ratio which regulates the performance of gasification. This study aims to evaluate the influence of equivalent ratio (ER) on the flow and combustion characteristics in a typical half tear-drop shape of UCG cavity which is generally formed during the UCG process. A flow modeling software, Ansys FLUENT is used to construct a 3-D model and to solve problems in the cavity. The boundary conditions are- (i) a mass-flow-inlet passing oxidizer (in this case, air) into the cavity, (ii) a fuel-inlet where the coal volatiles are originated and (iii) a pressure-outlet for flowing the product Syngas out of the cavity. A steady-state simulation has been run using k-? turbulence model. The mass flow rate of air varied according to an equivalent ratio (ER) of 0.16, 0.33, 0.49 and 0.82, while the fuel flow rate was fixed. The optimal condition of ER has been identified through observing flow and combustion characteristics, which looked apparently stable at ER 0.33. In general, the flow circulation mainly takes place around the ash-rubble pile. A high temperature zone is found at the air-releasing point of the injection pipe into the ash-rubble pile. This study could practically be useful to identify one of the vital controlling factors of gasification performance (i.e., ER impact on product gas flow characteristics) which might become a cost-effective solution in advance of commencement of any physical operation.