Crop Yield and Nitrogen Bioavailability Mediated by Nitrogen Fertilization in Maize/Soybean Intercropping System with and without Rhizobium Inoculation

Document Type : Original Article

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Salinity and Alkalinity Soils Research Laboratory, Agriculture Research Center, Alexandria, Ministry of Agriculture, (Egypt)

Abstract

Two plots experiments were conducted at the Soil Salinity and Alkalinity Laboratory at Alexandria, Egypt, to study the beneficial effects of nitrogen supply from soybean intercropped with maize on available nitrogen in soil, nitrogen uptake, and yield of maize. The results indicated that the highest grain yield of maize              (5581 kg.ha-1) was achieved in maize+soybean intercropping under the entired recommended rate (RR) of mineral nitrogen application (120 units of N as urea), and the lowest (2280 kg.ha-1) was achieved in maize+soybean intercropping in absence of mineral nitrogen application. Application of rhizobium to maize+soybean intercropping system significantly increased maize grain and above-ground biomass yields. On average of two years, maize grain of maize+soybean intercropping overyielded the sole maize by 58% (ranging from 0.9% to 99.96%). Total land equivalent ratio (TLER), averaged over N levels, was 2.30 in maize+soybean, and 2.67 in soybean + maize intercropping with rhizobium over the 2 years of the study. The combination of mineral and rhizobium in maize+soybean intercropping system showed the highest values of N concentrations in plant tissues compared with mineral or rhizobium plots individually. Also, there were significant positive relationships between N uptake and maize grain yield in the first season [r= 0.99, 0.99, 0.90, 0.90, and 0.86 for maize, soybean, maize + soybean intercropping, soybean + rhizobium, and maize + soybean + rhizobium, respectively]. Although, the intercropped maize and soybean plus rhizobium at 50% of RR of N fertilizer was not yielded the highest corn grain, it is recommended that to be the best economic treatment. 

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