Intercropping Maize with Faba Bean Improves Yield, Income, and Soil Fertility in Semiarid Environment
Table 4
Interaction effects of intercropping maize with two faba bean (FB) varieties at three different densities on soil pH, EC (mmh·cm−1), SOC (g·kg−1), total N (g·kg−1), and available soil P (mg·kg−1).
Treatments
pH
EC
SOC
Total N
Preplanting soil
8.20b
0.66a
4.9b
0.43c
29.14a
Sole maize
8.32b
0.58bc
6.4ab
0.55bc
27.08ab
Sole faba bean
8.42ab
0.56c
6.5ab
0.57ab
25.94abc
Maize + Gora FB at 25%
8.60a
0.55c
6.4ab
0.55bc
22.48bc
Maize + Gora FB at 50%
8.51ab
0.52c
7.9a
0.67a
21.00c
Maize + Gora FB at 75%
8.46ab
0.55c
5.6b
0.49bc
23.64bc
Maize + Moti FB at 25%
8.52ab
0.62ab
5.5b
0.47bc
24.77abc
Maize + Moti FB at 50%
8.32ab
0.58bc
6.3ab
0.54bc
24.49abc
Maize + Moti FB at 75%
8.42ab
0.55c
6.6ab
0.57ab
22.40bc
SEM±
0.109
0.019
0.69
0.043
1.79
LSD (5%)
0.323
0.06
2.0
0.128
5.30
CV (%)
2.2
5.7
19.2
13.8
12.7
Means along column followed by the same letters are not significantly different (). Sole FB = averaged results of Gora and Moti varieties.