Production and sustainability in cultivar combinations of beet and cowpea fertilized with Calotropis procera in the semi-arid

Resumo

In the obtaining high productivity and sustainability in beet and cowpea associations, it is necessary to take into account the choice of crop cultivar combinations that provide high response in terms of production, product quality and efficiency of the intercrop. The objective of this work was to evaluate the production viability and sustainability of beet cultivars combinations with cowpea cultivars fertilized with C. procera in semi-arid environment. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with treatments arranged in a 2 x 4 factorial scheme with four replications, stemmed from two cultivars of beet (Early Wonder and Fortuna) with four cultivar combinations of cowpea (BRS Tumucumaque, BRS Cauamé, BRS Guariba and BRS Itaim). In each block, plots with cultivars in monocrop were planted as additional treatments for comparison with cultivars in intercrop. The Early Wonder cultivar when in intercrop with the cowpea was the one that produced the highest productivity of commercial roots. The cowpea cultivars BRS Tumucumaque and BRS Guariba were the most productive materials when intercropped with beet. The combinations of cultivars that presented the greatest agro-economic efficiencies, complementarity and sustainability were those originated from the associations of BRS Tumucumaque and BRS Guariba with the beet cultivar Early Wonder.