Evaluation of different smooth vetch and winter type barley mix cropping systems under Mahabad cold dryland conditions

This research was carried out to evaluate some agronomic characteristics and forage yield in two types of vetch and barley bi-culturing under Mahabad rainfed conditions. The treatments consisted of pure stands along with seed mixture of smooth vetch (cv. Maragheh) with barley (cv. Abidar) at 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 seeding ratio as strip intercropping (different rows) and mixed seeding in a randomized complete block design with three replications. There were significant differences between treatments in terms of spring green coverage, plant height, days to flowering and forage yield. Plant height and forage yield in pure barley stands were more than mixed treatments. However, forage yield in mix cropping was 500% greater than pure vetch stands. The highest dry forage yield (3187 kg/ha) was obtained from 1:1 mix cropping of Maragheh and Abidar. There were no significant differences between two types of mix cropping in this experiment. Land equivalent ratio (LER) were more than 1 in all bi-cultures however, The highest LER (1.35) was obtained from 1:1 mixture of Maragheh and Abidar which could be recommended for autumn cultivation in Mahabad and similar conditions.