Resumen

SHINDOI, Mauro; AVICO, E.L.; SARCO, P.C.  y  MONTEROS SOLITO, D.E.. Evaluación de la intersiembra de rúcula (Eruca sativa Mill.) y lechuga (Lactuca sativa L.) en Colonia Benítez, Chaco. RIA. Rev. investig. agropecu. [online]. 2019, vol.45, n.2, pp.252-258. ISSN 1669-2314.

Progressive demographic growth generates the expansion of urban centers towards areas where horticultural belts are commonly located; this population increase produces a hard demand for these productive lands to be used for urban development projects. Given this situation, it is necessary to apply technologies such as intercropping, that consists of planting two or more species on the same field to increase their productivity. The objective of this work was to study the effect of intercropping on yield and morphological characteristics of lettuce and rocket using different distances between rows at Colonia Benítez, Chaco. Treatments were: R= rocket at 0.2 m between rows; L= lettuce at 0.4 m between rows; LR1= lettuce-rocket intercropped, with lettuce at 0.4 m between rows and one row of rocket between lettuce rows and LR2= lettuce-rocket intercropped, with lettuce at 0.4 m between rows and two rows of rocket between lettuce plants. Rocket was harvested 30 days after sowing (DAS) and lettuce 62 DAS, when the above ground fresh weight (FW) and total fresh weight (TFW) were determined, and land equivalent ratio (LER), defined as the total land area of the sole crop required to achieve the same yields as the intercrops, was calculated. For both crops the total number of leaves was counted and stem length, leaf dry weight and stem dry weight were measured on lettuce. The highest total production was observed in the LR1 treatment, followed by LR2 and L. Intercropping had a negative effect on lettuce, decreasing yield; this effect was greater when there were two lines of rocket (LR2). In lettuce the number of leaves and the length of the stem were also affected. Rocket yield was not affected in LR1, however, in LR2 the effect was negative for both lettuce and rocket. There was no effect on the number of leaves of rocket in any of the treatments. LR1 presented a LER higher than 1. We consider that this was the treatment with the best performance in productivity and plants quality.

Palabras clave : crop association; leafy vegetables; land equivalent ratio; LER.