Evaluation of the Effect of Foliar Application of Iron Fertilizer on the Phytochemical and Functional Characteristics of Borage (Borago officinalis L.) in Intercropping with Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mohammad Abdolahi
• Mehdi Dahmradeh
• Issa Khammari

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran

10.22067/agry.2023.81455.1149

Abstract

Introduction
Sustainable agriculture refersp to the correct management of agricultural resources that, while meeting changing human needs, and preserve the quality of the environment and the capacity of water and soil resources. Among the components of sustainable agriculture, we can mention the agroforestry system, integrated pest management, crop rotation, and intercropping. The purpose of intercropping is to find plants that have the least competition with each other and use the available resources more effectively. The purpose of this research is to the effect of intercropping of Roselle on the quantitative and qualitative traits of borage under foliar application of iron fertilizer and to determine the best ratio of intercropping to achieve the highest yield and the highest level of land equivalent ratio.
Material and Methods
This research was carried out in the educational research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture of Zabol University in the agricultural year of 2014-2015. The experiment was carried out as a factorial in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments examined in this research include foliar spraying of sulfate fertilizer as the first factor in three levels including |(no foliar application or control, 3gr.l^-1 and 6gr.l^-1) and eight levels of intercropping including (pure Roselle, pure Borage, 75% Roselle + 25% Borage, 75% Borage + 25% Roselle, 50% Roselle + 50% Borage, 50% Roselle + 100% Borage, 100% Roselle + 50% Borage, 100% Roselle + 100% Borage were as the second factor. Both plants were planted at the same time at the end of March in 2×2 plots, where the distance between the planting lines was 50 cm, the distance between the rows was the same, but the density was different in each row. Irrigation was done according to the needs of the plants, weeding and thinning during the growth period and weeding was done by hand during three stages. Wagner's method was used to measure the amount of anthocyanins. The criterion for evaluating intercropping was using the land equivalent ratio. At the end, data analysis will be done using SAS version 9.1 software, and a comparison of means will be done using Duncan's test at the 5 % level.
Results and Discussion
Results showed that the interaction effects of foliar application, iron, and intercropping were significant on the anthocyanin and mucilage content of borage. Additionally, the simple effects of foliar application of iron were significant on the number of flowers per stem, stem height, number of sub-branches, biological yield, and harvest index. The effects of intercropping were significant on the number of flowers per stem, anthocyanin content, mucilage content, stem height, number of sub-branches, economic yield, and harvest index. The comparison of means effects of different intercropping systems showed that the highest biological yield (1412.8 kg.ha^-1) was obtained from the intercropping system of 75% Roselle + 25% borage. In addition, the comparison of means effects of different intercropping systems showed that the highest amount of economic yield (49.68  kg.ha^-1) was obtained from the treatment of pure borage cultivation. Comparison of means showed that the highest percentage of mucilage with an average of 0.0713% from the foliar treatment of 6gr.l^-1 of iron sulfate in the conditions of pure borage cultivation, and the lowest percentage of mucilage was obtained with an average of 0.0280 from the control treatment (no application of iron sulfate fertilizer + 100% Roselle + 50% borage). The highest land equivalent ratio (2) was obtained from intercropping of 100% Roselle + 50% borage harvest.
 
Conclusion
According to the results obtained in the present study, the effects of foliar application of iron and intercropping systems had significant effects on yield and yield components of borage. By increasing the foliar application of iron improved growth traits and yield. The highest proportion of LER obtained was from 100% Roselle+ 50% borage, which indicated superior cropping compared to pure crop. This superiority is probably due to the better use of mixed components of growth resources such as light, water, and nutrients compared to pure crop.
 

Keywords

• Anthocyanin
• Intercropping ratios
• Land Equivalent Ratio
• Mucilage

Main Subjects

• Agroecology and Indigenous Knowledge

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©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.

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