Forage Productivity, Competition Indices and Economics of Forage Millet and Guar As Affected By Intercropping Pattern and Nitrogen Fertilizer under Sandy Soil Conditions

Two field experiments were carried out during two successive summer seasons of  two year 2018 and 2019 at Ismailia Agricultural Research Station, Agric. Research  Center (ARC) to study the effect of  intercropping patterns of forage millet (M) and guar (G) i.e. one row of forage millet for one row of guar (1M:1G), one row of forage millet for two row of guar (1M:2G), two rows of forage millet for one row of guar (2M:1G) and two rows of forage millet for two rows of guar (2M:2G), respectively. Sole crops of forage millet and guar were included as check treatment to compare yields of intercropped patterns. Three nitrogen levels (45, 60 and 75 kg N fad^-1) were applied for each in plot. The intercropping pattern of (2 M: 1 G) gave the highest total fresh (32.48 and 27.91 ton fad^-1) and dry (7.12 and 5.93 ton fad^-1) forage yields in the 1^st and the 2^nd seasons, respectively than all other intercropping patterns. Increasing the level of N from 45 to 75 kg N fad^-1 gradually increased each of the fresh and dry forage yields of the three cuts as well as their totals for the two growing seasons. The contribution percentage of forage millet in dry yield for the three cuts of any intercropping system was high, whereas that of guar was low than the expected in both seasons. Also, the addition of to 75 kg N fad^-1 gave the highest contribution rate of forage millet, while the contribution rate of guar was gradually decreased with each increase level, this is clear in the 1^st cut in both seasons. The (2M:1G) intercropping pattern was exhibited higher LER, competitive indices values and economic compared to the other intercropping patterns. Generally, increasing nitrogen levels tremendously improved total LER, competitive indices values and economic especially for forage millet as major component of intercropping system. From  this study, it is inferred that intercropping of forage millet with guar at (2M:1G) planting pattern and fertilized with 75 kg N fad.^-1 give higher income, better land use efficiency and thus enhanced sustainability of crop production than sole culture of each crop species.