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Title: BED ORIENTATION AND POSITION IN FIELD INCONSISTENTLY AFFECT YIELDS OF STRIP-CROPPED VEGETABLES

Author
item Russo, Vincent

Submitted to: Journal of Vegetable Crop Production
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/9/2001
Publication Date: 12/15/2001
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Planting different crops in the same field, which can be describe as strip-cropping, may provide growers with alternatives by which they can diversify the production mix. Growers should also consider how rows are oriented in strips since this affects how foliage receives irradiation from the sun and may affect yield. Also, placing tall plants next to short plants in strips may produce a border affect and reduce the yield of shorter plants. An experiment was conducted, over two years, to determine if row orientation, east-west or north-south, or placement in the field affected yield of bell pepper, cucumber or sweet corn, or their total. In one year yield of the component crops in east-west oriented rows was improved over north-south oriented rows. Location in the field had little effect on yield. Row orientation and border effect are not major considerations when bell pepper, cucumber and sweet corn are strip-cropped at this location.

Technical Abstract: Vegetable crops are exposed to conditions during the growing season that affect yield. Cultural practices that mediate stress need to be developed and refined so that quantity and quality of yield can be sustained. Strip- cropping has been used to improve yields in various crops. Plant habit can naffect yield, with taller crops creating detrimental border effects for shorter crops due to shading. Row orientation, and location in the field, was examined to determine how they affected yield of vegetable crops with various habits in a strip-cropping system in 1998 and 1999. Rows with either bell pepper or cucumber were interspersed with rows of sweet corn in east-west and north-south oriented rows. Almost 2-fold as much bell pepper, cucumber, and the combined marketable yield for all crops, were produced in east-west than in north-south oriented rows in 1998, but there was no effect in 1999. Crop location in the field had little effect on yield. Row orientation and border effect are not major considerations when bell pepper, cucumber, and sweet corn are strip-cropped at this location.