<b>Bunching onion and chicory yield and gross income in mono-cropping and inter-cropping system</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actasciagron.v26i4.1811

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate yield and gross income of bunching onion and chicory obtained from mono-cropping and inter-cropping system, with three and four rows per plot, in order to offer the producer a more efficient management alternative for those cultures, which can be more sustainable and more profitable. The bunching onion propagation was through cuttings and the chicory's through seeds. Harvest was done at 90 days after planting/sowing, when the plants were cut very near the soil. The average height of bunching onion plants was 28.4cm and 32.1cm for chicory, the bunching onion average number of shoots 0.49 millions ha^-1 and the average yield of bunching onion fresh and dried phyto-masses 2.46 t ha^-1 and 0.22 t ha^-1, respectively; chicory's (10.21 t ha^-1 and 0.96 t ha^-1, respectively) were not influenced significantly by the number of plant rows by plot. The inter-cropping system induced an increase of 9.8cm in bunching onion height when compared to mono-cropping system. The greatest number of chicory leaves was with three rows in mono-cropping system and with four rows in inter-cropping system. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), considering fresh phyto-mass yields of those species cultivated under respective number of rows were 1.93 for bunching onion under three rows and chicory under four rows (C₃Al₄) and of 1.59 for bunching onion under four rows and chicory under three rows (C₄Al₃). Under the conditions in which the work was carried out, the greatest gross income to the producer was with C₃Al₄ inter-cropping system, because it resulted in monetary increases of R$ 13,919.70 and of R$ 7.068,15 when compared to bunching onion (3 rows) and to chicory (4 rows), respectively, under mono-cropping systems