Research on World Agricultural Economy

Effects of Different Intercropping Models on Growth and Yield Traits of Maize in Red Soil Dryland

Shujian Guo

Ecological Science Research Center, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China

Shujuan Li

Ecological Science Research Center, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China

Guoqin Huang

Ecological Science Research Center, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/rwae.v3i1.482

Received: 12 January 2022; Received in revised form: 14 February 2022; Accepted: 22 February 2022; Published: 4 March 2022

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Abstract

In order to develop a suitable planting mode of maize in red soil dryland, improve the related plant and ear characters of maize, promote high quality and high yield, and improve economic benefits. The experiment was conducted in the Science and Technology Park of Jiangxi Agricultural University from May 13, 2020, to October 18, 2020, and from May 5, 2021, to October 7, 2021. Taking maize as the control, three intercropping treatments of maize intercropping soybean, maize intercropping peanut and maize intercropping sweet potato were set up to compare their effects on agronomic characters such as plant height, stem diameter and ear width of maize and yield. The results showed that the plant height and ear height of maize intercropping soybean reached the maximum in two years, with a plant height of 208.9 cm and 191.9 cm, and ear height of 80.2 cm and 58.4 cm, respectively. The ear length and grain number per row of intercropping treatment were better than that of monoculture treatment. The ear length of maize intercropping and soybean reached the maximum, which were 16.5 cm and 19.0 cm respectively, and the grain number per row was also higher than that of other treatments. The yield of maize intercropping soybean was the highest, 42.1 kg and 43.5 kg respectively in two years. Compared with monoculture, intercropping can improve stem diameter, ear height, ear length, grain number per row and other ear traits, so as to improve corn yield, among which maize intercropping soybean is the best. The results of the grey correlation showed that ear length and plant height had a great influence on maize yield. The comprehensive analysis shows that the use of the maize intercropping soybean model is conducive to achieving high quality and high yield.

Keywords: Red soil dryland; Intercropping models; Maize; Agronomic characters; Yield

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