Relative yield total of two- and three-species intercropping of soybean, maize and sunflower

: Intercropping is defined as growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. A field experiment was conducted during the growing season of 2011 at the Agricultural Research Farm of University of Tabriz, Iran. The aim of this study was to compare production efficiency in monocropping of sunflower, maize, and soybean with two and three species intercropping systems (intercroppings of sunflower- maize in 3:3; sunflower- soybean in 3:4 rows; maize- soybean in 3:4 rows; sunflower- soybean- maize in 3:4:3 rows; sunflower-soybean- maize- soybean in 3:4:3:4 rows, sunflower-soybean with 100:20 and maize- soybean with 100:20 ratios) with in terms intercropping indices. The intercropping designs were based on the replacement and additive principals. Intercropped maize had higher leaf chlorophyll index compared to pure stands. Likewise, sunflower leaf production was better in intercropping than that in mono-cropping. The maximum RYT were obtained from additive intercropped soybean with sunflower and maize. The RYT less than 1.0 in replacement intercroppings than that of additive stands indicated the effectiveness and preference of these systems relative to crop pure stands.