Relay-planting of Peanuts between double or Triple Rows at different dates increases Growth, Nitrogen content, and Yield of Red Rice under Aerobic Irrigation Systems

Abstract

Previous studies reported that intercropping rice with legume crops such as soybean, peanut, and mungbean increased nutrient uptake and yield of rice plants. This study aimed to examine the effects of relay-planting peanuts between double or triple rows of rice at different dates on growth, nitrogen content, and yield of red rice in aerobic irrigation systems on raised beds. The experiment was conducted in Narmada (West Lombok, Indonesia), arranged according to Split Plot design with two treatment factors, i.e. rice row patterns as the main plots (P1= double, P2= triple rows) and relay-planting dates of peanut as the subplots (T0= without peanut; T1= relay-planting peanut 1 week, T2= 2 weeks, T3= 3 weeks after seeding pre-germinated red rice seeds). Results indicated that between the treatment factors, relay-planting peanut at different dates resulted in significant effects on more variables compared with the patterns of rice rows. However, there were significant interaction effects between the treatment factors on tiller and panicle numbers per clump, and higher panicle number supported by higher leaf N content and higher harvest index resulted in significantly higher grain yield of the red rice intercropped with peanuts, especially when peanut was relay-planted at three or two weeks after seeding the pre-germinated rice seeds on raised-beds in aerobic irrigation systems. Although there was no significant effect of row patterns, the highest grain yield average (75.96 g/clump) was on T3 treatment under triple-row and the lowest average (33.29 g/clump) was on T0 treatment under double-row pattern.