Why intercrop lentil

Intercropping lentil whith spring wheat to improve productivity and income in organic farming Loïc VIGUIER - Laurent BEDOUSSAC - Etienne-Pascal JOURNET - Eric JUSTES INRA-Toulouse, France

EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

Why intercrop lentil (Lens culinaris) with a cereal ? • • • •

Steadily growing interest in lentil for human consumption in France & EU Demand > supply of organic lentil in France High economic and agronomic value for farmers (1500 € / t, no N fertilisers...) However organic lentil productivity is low and unstable due to agronomic issues : Weeds

Bruchid grain damage

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Short shoots + lodging  grain loss at harvest !

-?  Intercropping lentil with a cereal: a solution to support farmers in fulfilling consumers demand ? L-Oat: Dusa, 2009 & 2013 - L-Barley: Wang 2012, Schmidtke 2004; L-Wheat: Carr 1995, Fernandez 2015 EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

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Objectives 1. Analyse functioning and performances of lentil-spring wheat intercrops (IC) 2. Find the best combinations of cultivars and sowing densities for organic farmers

Approaches / Methods 1. Field experiments (INRA Toulouse, France; 2015 and 2016) • Organic farming management + no N fertilisation • 4 lentil cultivars + 2 spring wheat cultivars • Grown as sole crops (SC) and as 32 bi-specific intercrops (IC) • Both species sown and harvested together • Yield, Yield components, N budget, Light budget...

2. Monitoring Organic farmer fields (2015-2017) • Lentil-wheat IC vs. lentil SC • Yield + components, N budget


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Yield efficiency of lentil-wheat intercrops Total intercrop yield ≈ wheat sole crop > lentils sole crop Wheat always dominated lentil particularly for 67%L/33%W and 100%L/50%W density ratios Lentil grain yield in IC < SC due to strong interspecific interactions by wheat on lentil *

 Confirms interest of IC in organic farming to improve yield owing to species complementarity in use of available resources EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

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[Genotype x density x treatment] interactions In SC, Anicia, Rosana and Flora yields > Beluga In IC, Flora and Rosana yields > Anicia and Beluga

Cv. Beluga yield was similar in IC and SC The higher the wheat density, the lower the lentil grain yield, while no increase in total IC yield

 "Genotype by density by treatment" interactions, calling for further study of cultivars responses EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

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Which optimal trade-off between lentil standing yield and wheat density to maximise farmer income ?

• To favour yield of lentil (the most profitable crop; 3-4 > price), wheat density must remain low • Even with a wheat density as low as 17% lentil lodging was strongly reduced, which may increase the amount of lentil harvested in IC vs. in SC, despite the lower standing yield

134 % 75 %

Preliminary results from combiner harvest of lentil-wheat mixtures (2016) EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

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Conclusions & Outlook •

Analysis of data from 2016 experiment and farm monitoring underway…

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Reduction of weed abundance and lentil lodging in intercrops

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Lentil-spring wheat intercrops appear of great interest in organic farming to improve yields & income (grain sorting costs included)

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Intercrop efficiency is due to the complementarities of both species for the use of abiotic resources (N, light...)

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To favour the lentil standing yield, wheat density must remain low (< 33%), with lentil 100%

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Harvest efficiency of lentils in intercrops seems higher  further results needed to confirm advantages of lentil-wheat intercrops

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Bruchids (seed weewils) impact on yield : still a major concern! EP Journet, AGIR – INRA - ILS2 - Tróia, Portugal - 14 Oct 2016

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Many thanks to : Michel Labarrère Eric Lecloux Didier Chesneau Didier Raffaillac Pierre Perrin Benoît Gleizes

Aurélie Madrid Yolaine Hily Lisa Fernandes Marine Tirel Benoit Galaup Romaric Justes

QUALISOL: Alain Larribeau participating farmers


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