Sunflower Intercropping Essay

Zahid Hussain, Khan Bahadar Marwat, Fazal Munsif, Abdul Samad, Saima Hashim and Tamana Bakht’s paper, published in 2013 in, Influence of Intercropping in Maize on Performance of Weeds and the Associated Crops focused on determining what would be the best species to intercrop with maize but has the least effect on maize yield but is effective at suppressing weeds. This is as a consequence of Pakistan currently producing low yields of Maize, due to weeds and nutrient imbalances due to cereal cropping.

The design for this experiment was appropriate to the questions being asked, as data was able to be collected to answer the questions of the study. The 3 different plants chosen for the intercrop represent a range of characteristics and nutrient requirements. Overall the methodology is clear and well explained. It highlighted all of the necessary features required for this experiment to be carried out again. These included the size of the plots, the width between rows, the layout for the intercropping (e.g. one row Maize, one row Sunflower) and when the crop was to be harvested. However, there is

concluded that using a sunflower intercrop was not overly successful as it affected the Maize yield, despite decreasing weeds. This made sunflowers unsuitable for intercropping. Interestingly the Maize-Mungbean 1:2 treatment was the preferred treatment, despite not having the highest total yield. This may be the case as this treatment had the highest maize yield, with the additional benefit of producing mungbean. Additionally, this treatment had the highest CBR, consequently it is the most economic option, leading to the highest profitability. The Frenchbean 1:2 treatment had the highest total yield, however the frenchbean had a negative effect of the Maize yield, consequently not providing the best solution to the research question. Overall, the authors concluded that intercropping was an effective tool in Maize cropping across all four of their