Chicory yield in monocropped and intercropped system with carrot - DOI: 10.4025/actasciagron.v28i1.1305

Abstract

This work aimed at evaluating yield capacity and gross income of Folhas amarelas chicory in five periods of cut, and of Brasilia carrot under monocropped system with three (33.3 cm) or four (25.0 cm) rows per plot (100 cm of wide) or intercropped with three rows of chicory (Al₃C₄) and four rows of carrot (Al₄C₃) and viceversa. Harvests of chicory were performed 63, 103, 143, 183 and 223 days after sowing and that of carrot in 103 days. Curves of height of chicory plants were quadratic with 23 cm for minimum point, which was reached in 170 days after sowing. The number of leaves of chicory plants was higher in monocropped system being the maximum number of 350 leaves m² in 164 days, under four rows, and the smallest number was for Al₃C₄ (195 leaves m²). The highest yields of fresh mass of chicory were under monocropped system, under four rows, in the second period of harvest, while the smallest ones were with Al₃C₄. For carrots, the use of four rows per plot influenced significantly the total root and commercially big root yields, in monocropped as well as in intercropped system. Land Equivalent Ratios were higher than 1.0 in the second harvest, performed in 103 days. For the chicory producer, the intercropped system was economically viable only in the second harvest with Al₄C₃ treatment. For the carrot producer, both intercropped systems were viable, although Al₄C₃ was the best.