Speaker
Description
The growing interest in locally produced plant-based proteins calls for an increased European production of minor grain legumes, including chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). However, the European agricultural area dedicated to pulses is less than 3% of the total arable land. The scarce cultivation of grain legumes is due to multiple factors, among them the low yields coupled with yield instability between years, which derives from the high susceptibility of grain legumes to abiotic and biotic stresses. Nonetheless, the practice of intercropping has been demonstrated to stabilise legume yields. However, there is still few information on the effect of the cultivar on intercropping performance.
The main objective of this study is to evaluate whether it is possible to stabilise the yield of chickpea through its intercropping with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in a Mediterranean environment. Furthermore, we investigate which chickpea cultivar is most suitable for intercropping. The experiment was organised in a randomised complete block design with four replicates. Three experimental factors were investigated: chickpea cultivar, intercropping and location.
The trial considered five chickpea cultivars, of which three belong to the Kabuli group (Sultano, Lambada and Castellano) and two to the Desi group (Nero della Murgia and Castor). They are commercial cultivars from Italy (Sultano and Nero della Murgia), France (Lambada and Castor) and Spain (Castellano). The wheat cultivar used was Bolero. Each chickpea cultivar was grown as a sole crop and in intercropping with wheat. The study started in spring 2023 and will end in spring 2025, in two locations: Pisa, Central Italy and in Udine, Northern Italy. Both locations fall under the North Mediterranean climate category, as indicated in the Environmental Stratification of Europe, despite having different rainfall pattern. No pesticides or fertilisers were used, and mechanical hoeing weeding was performed once on the sole crops of chickpea to simulate the standard agronomic management for low input chickpea sole crop.
Results
The 2023 results show similar behaviour in terms of grain yield and aboveground biomass of both the chickpea cultivars and wheat, with higher values in Pisa than in Udine.
In both locations, on average, chickpea aboveground biomass was lower in intercropping than monocropping, regardless the chickpea cultivars. The biomass reduction due to intercropping was 38% in Pisa and 74% in Udine. Significant differences between cultivars were found only in Pisa and only in intercropping, where the cultivars that produced more biomass than the others were Sultano and Lambada. In Pisa, at chickpea flowering, intercropping significantly reduced the aboveground biomass of weeds. This underlines the ability of the cereal to suppress weeds in the early stages of legume development. No differences in weed development were observed between the different cultivars.
On average, chickpea produced 33% less when intercropped than when in sole crop. The most performing cultivar was Lambada, whereas Sultano was the least productive. Wheat grain yield was on average higher in Pisa than in Udine. In both locations wheat grain yield was significantly lower in intercropping, except for the co-cultivation with Castellano in Pisa. This is probably due to the lower germination in the field and lower biomass production per m^2 of Castellano compared to the other cultivars, which allowed the wheat to produce more (Fig. 1).
This study lays the foundation for evaluating whether intercropping of chickpea and wheat can stabilise chickpea yields. Furthermore, the study shows that the cultivar choice is highly relevant for the success of intercropping in a Mediterranean environment. Lambada was identified as the most suitable one. The study will be repeated in the following years to establish if indeed intercropping is able to stabilise chickpea yield.
| Keywords | Crop diversification; pulses; agroecology; organic agriculture; sustainable agriculture |
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