the effect of intercropping system on radiation use efficiency and growth indices of safflower (carthamus tinctorius l.) and chickpea (cicer arietinum l.)

The intercropping system is regarded as a key strategy for sustainable agriculture, aimed at enhancing resource use efficiency, reducing environmental stress, and improving farm income. therefore, to evaluate the intercropping of safflower-chickpea under dryland conditions, a field experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with five treatments in the research farm of the campus of agriculture and natural resources at razi university during 2019-2020. the treatments included monoculture of safflower, monoculture of chickpea, and intercropping of safflower and chickpea with a planting ratio of 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 percent. the measured traits included leaf area index (lai), light absorption, crop growth rate (cgr), relative growth ratio (rgr), total dry matter (tdm), radiation use efficiency (rue), and grain yield. the results showed that lai and radiation absorption in intercropping treatments increased by 26.8% and 54.9%, respectively. the cgr in intercropping treatments decreased by 3.6%, but the rgr increased by 2.5%. the rue was significantly higher in intercropping treatments compared to monoculture. the highest grain yield (2650 kg ha-1) was observed in the 50:50 intercropping ratio. generally, the results showed that the intercropping of safflower with chickpea led to a more rue and among the treatments, the 50:50% had higher efficiency.