Antioxidant and Yield Responses of Wheat and Clover in Intercropping System To Late Season Drought Stress Induced By Partial Root-Zone Irrigation Regime

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of planting pattern and irrigation system on antioxidant responses of wheat and persian clover. the xperiment was carried out as a two-factor factorial with three replications. the first factor was irrigation system (conventional and partial root-zone irrigation) and the second was planting pattern (sole wheat, sole persian clover, alternate-row intercropping and within-row intercropping). the results indicated that rwc of wheat and clover leaves decreased with lowering water supply. both crops had higher rwc in intercropping compared to the sole cropping. before irrigation, wheat and clover had lower proline in intercropping systems (15% and 9% lower for wheat and clover, respectively) compared to the sole cropping. sod activity in wheat and persian clover increased in partial root zone irrigation compared to conventional irrigation system. under partial root-zone irrigation, sod of wheat and persian clover was increased up to 10% and 46% compare to the conventional irrigation. the mda content of wheat and persian clover leaves under partial root-zone irrigation was more than that of conventional irrigation. regarding mda content, wheat experienced a higher stress under the sole cropping compared to intercropping system. the highest activity of pod was recorded in persian clover under partial root zone irrigation system which was 20% more than that of wheat. partial root-zone irrigation reduced the grain yield of wheat and persian clover down to 27% and 36%, respectively, compared to conventional irrigation. land equivalent ratio of intercropping in partial root-zone irrigation was significantly (p≤0.01) more than that of conventional irrigation, suggesting that intercropping reduced the negative effect of lower water supply. generally, partial root-zone irrigation induced higher antioxidant activity of wheat and persian clover. however, partial root-zone irrigation may have a good potential for reducing water consumption in intercropping systems