Simultaneous Assessment of Water and Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Rain-Fed Chickpea-Durum Wheat Intercropping Systems

Omar Kherif, Benalia Haddad, Fatma-Zohra Bouras, Mounir Seghouani, Bahia Zemmouri, Ramzi Gamouh, Nadia Hamzaoui, Amira Larbi, Nazih-Yacer Rebouh and Mourad Latati ()
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Omar Kherif: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Benalia Haddad: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Fatma-Zohra Bouras: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Mounir Seghouani: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Bahia Zemmouri: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Ramzi Gamouh: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Nadia Hamzaoui: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Amira Larbi: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria
Nazih-Yacer Rebouh: Department of Environmental Management, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), 117198 Moscow, Russia
Mourad Latati: Laboratoire d’Amélioration Intégrative des Productions Végétales (C2711100), Département de Productions Végétales, Avenue Hassane Badi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique (ES1603), El Harrach, Algiers 16200, Algeria

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: It is well known that multiple interactions can occur between nitrogen and water use, depending on climate, soil and crop characteristics, in crop growth and yield development. However, little is known about the simultaneous change in both water and N use efficiency (WUE and NUE) and their possible interactions in cereal–-legume intercropping systems. In order to advance our knowledge on the N and water facilitation mechanisms involved in the intercropping responses of N and water input co-limitations, we investigated, via four experiment years, the simultaneous optimization of water and N-fertilizer inputs, as well as its possible effects on growth, yield, N acquisition, and the NUE and WUE in intercropped species. The results indicated that intercropping increases the leaf area index by more than +0.14 and +1.03 units when compared to durum wheat and chickpea monoculture systems, respectively. This increase is particularly noticeable under higher rainfalls during the crop period (i.e., as can be seen in the 2022, 2020, and 2019 seasons). Moderate N-application enhanced both the grain yield and protein accumulation in the mixed crops by more than 0.22 t ha −1 and 57 kg ha −1 , respectively. Conversely, intercropping significantly decreased the mixed grain yield when compared to durum wheat monocultures. Intercropping advantages in terms of biomass (ranged from 1 to 44%) and N-acquisition (2 to 91%) was confirmed in either low- (2021) or high- (2019 and 2022) rainfall growing periods, but only under low and moderate N-applications. Improving N nutrition under both rainfall and drought growth periods was confirmed only for the mixed crops under all applied N-fertilizer doses. Such improvements in growth, N acquisition, and yield quality were most likely achieved by positive interactions (r 2 = 0.73, p ≤ 0.001) between the NUE and WUE for the chickpea–wheat intercropping. Thus, 0.62 kg m −3 of WUE promotes a significant increase of 1 kg kg −1 in NUE by mixing chickpea-durum wheat. Rain-fed chickpea-durum wheat intercropping provides a higher performance in growth and yield quality compared to sole cropping systems; this may occur from the simultaneous optimizations of both water and N fertilizer inputs in low-N soil under semiarid conditions.

Keywords: wheat; growth stage; growing season; fertilization; mixed crop; positive interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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