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| Effects of Potato/Maize Intercropping with Different Row Ratios on Commercial Quality and Economic Benefits of Different Potato Varieties |
| HUANG Cheng-jian1，2，ZHAO Si-yi2，WANG Long-chang1*，WANG Ji-chun1 ，ZHAO Yong1，CAI
Ye-mao1，TENG Yan1，YANG Guo-cai1 |
1 College of Agronomy and Bio-technology， Southwest University， Engineering Research Center of South Upland
Agriculture， Ministry of Education， Chongqing 400716， China； 2 Dazhou City Institute of Agricultural Sciences，
Dazhou 635000， Sichuan， China |
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Abstract In order to clarify the effects of potato/maize intercropping system on potato（Solanum
tuberosum L.） commercial quality and its economic benefits，and choose appropriate potato varieties
to interplant with maize，a potato/maize intercropping field experiment with 2 different potato-maize
row ratios and 4 potato varieties were carried out to study the changes in potato commercial quality and total output value under intercropping condition．The results showed that the number and weight of
commodity tubers（ the weight ≥ 50 g） per plant，the commodity tuber percent and ratio of commodity
tuber quality in total tuber quality，both the weight of per commodity tuber and tubers per plant were all
reduced under intercropping condition．In addition，the number and weight of commodity tubers per
plant，and weight of tubers per plant were very significantly higher in 3∶2 row ratios than that in 2∶2
row ratios under intercropping system．The differences between commodity tubers with these 2 row ratio s
were due to different potato cultivars．No substantial differences were observed on the weight of per
commodity tuber and the weight percent of commodity tuber in to tal tuber between the 2 potato-maize row
ratios．Moreover，intercropping led to noticeable reduction in fresh and dry biomass．The tuber yield
and yield of commodity tuber in intercropping were remarkably lower than that in single cropping system．
That in 2∶2 row ratios was lower than that in 3∶2 row ratios．Under intercropping，‘Faviorita’ had
better commercial characteristics，while ‘Zhongshu No.5’ had poorer commodity characteristics，
‘Eshu No.5’and ‘Mira’ had middle level quality．High or low total output value in intercropping
systems was not always positively correlated with potato commodity characteristics．The total output
value of intercropping was higher than maize output value in mono-cropping maize．But，there were
differences between different cultivars and different row ratios in mono-potato．The varieties suitable for
intercropping with maize and favorable row ratios were in the f ollowing order：‘Faviorita’with ratio 3∶2，
‘Zhongshu No.5’with ratio 3∶2，‘Mira’with ratio 3∶2，and‘Faviorita’with ratio 2∶2.
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Received: 25 October 2012
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