The effect of sesbania (Sesbania sesban L.) and millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) intercropping on weeds control

This research was carried out in order to evaluate weeds control with the sesbania and millet intercropping system in Agricultural Research Field, in University of Jiroft during 2014-2015. So this experiment was performed based on randomized complete block design with three replications and different replacement series of millet and sesbania intercropping which consist of 75:25 (M75:S25), 67:33 (M67:S33), 50:50 (M50:S50), 33:67 (M33:S67), 25:75 (M25:S75), and their monocultures. The results showed that different intercropping ratio had significant effect on total dry weight of weeds, total dry forage yield, forage yield of millet and sesbania. The lowest dry weight of weeds includes of Centaurea cyanus L., Salsola kali L. and Heliotropium spp, were observed in 75: 25(M75:S25). Increasing sesbania ratio of intercropping systems caused to incrementing dry weight of weeds, so the highest dry weight of weeds was observed in sesbania monoculture. Decreasing of total weeds dry weight in M75:S25, M67:S33, M50:S50, M33:S67, M25:S75, compared to sesbania monoculture was respectively 94.07%, 85.8%, 81.4%, 71.2% and 29.4%. The highest dry forage yield of common millet (11437kg/ha) and sesbania (1680kg/ha) obtained from monoculture. The LER for almost all intercropping treatments was significantly higher than monocultures which show, intercropping had advantage over monoculture in this research. The result indicated that intercropping could be advantageous in terms of weed controls and total yield performance in the sesbania and millet intercropping system.