Competitive indices assessment of different intercropping patterns of soybean with sorghum

Two field experiments were conducted at the Agricultural Research Station Experimental Farm in Shandaweel, Sohag Governorate, Egypt, during 2021 and 2022 seasons to evaluate the competitive indices of different intercropping patterns of soybean and sorghum. The experiment was set up in a randomized block design with three replicates. Field experiment, consisted of three intercropping patterns (ridge ratio) viz. 2:2, 3:3 and 4:2 of sorghum and soybean. The obtained results showed that: the highest sorghum yield was recorded in 4:2 ridge ratio. The highest soybean yield was recorded in 3:3 ridge ratio. Intercropping pattern 4:2 gave the highest land equivalent ratio (1.20 and 1.22) in 1^st and 2^nd years, respectively. A similar trend to that of the land equivalent ratio (LER) was observed for land equivalent coefficient (LEC), land saved (LS%), area time equivalent ratio (ATER), and land utilization efficiency (LUE%). The data of aggressivity (A) showed that sorghum was the dominant (A positive), whereas soybean was dominated (A negative). The competition ratio (CR) of sorghum was greater than one but less than 1 for the competition ratio of soybean. The highest values of monetary advantage index (MAI) (5721.21 LE/fed) in the second season were observed when intercropping soybean with sorghum at 4:2 pattern, while the lowest value was observed (1878.29 LE/fed) in the first season at 2:2 pattern. The highest benefit-cost ratio (1.50) was recorded under 3:3 pattern. The pattern 4:2 produced the highest gross and net return on average of the two years (30056 and 17906 LE fed^-1), respectively. Sole culture of sorghum and soybean yield produced less gross and net return compared to intercropping patterns (2:2, 3:3 and 4:2). It could be concluded that the highest intercropping pattern of sorghum with soybean 4:2 is suitable in terms of productivity and economic.