Forage Yield, Growth Rate, and Nitrogen Uptake of Faba Bean Intercrops with Wheat, Barley, and Rye in Three Seeding Ratios

Annual cool-season grain legumes like faba bean (Vicia faba L.) grown in mixtures with winter cereals such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), or rye (Secale cereale L.) may offer advantages over cereal-alone crops grown for forage production. A 2-yr field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of intercropping faba bean with each of the above cereals in three seeding ratios (i.e., 75:25, 50:50, and 75:25) on growth rate, plant height, chlorophyll content, forage yield, and N uptake. Growth rate of faba bean and cereals was lower in the mixtures than in the monocultures, especially in the faba bean–barley mixtures because of the strong competitive ability of barley. Chlorophyll content was lower in faba bean compared with the cereals, and there was no difference among seeding ratios. Plant height of faba bean was higher in the intercrops compared with its monocrop at 3 wk after tillering (WAT), whereas at 6 WAT, the trend was different since faba bean plants in the monocrop were higher than in the intercrops. Rye monocrop and rye–faba bean intercrops provided the greatest forage yield. Although the three intercrops of faba bean with rye had lower crude protein (CP) content than the faba bean monocrop, they provided the highest CP yields per hectare because of their higher forage yield than the faba bean monocrop.