Author(s):
Faba bean is an important pulse crop in production and consumption in Ethiopia. Its major production is in the mid and high altitude areas. Intercropping is an effective utilization of land that enables farmers to produce two different crops simultaneously. It is a good way of using resources and man power efficiently. This could be due to different rooting characteristics, canopy structure, height, and nutrient requirements or resource use at different times. A field experiment was conducted in 2019 main cropping season at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center research station, South-eastern Ethiopia with the objectives of assessing the compatibility of faba bean and wheat intercropping and to select suitable varieties of faba bean under different planting ratio in intercropping faba bean with bread wheat in the area. The treatments were three faba bean varieties (Ashebeka, Hachalu and Tumsa) intercropped with bread wheat (variety Hulluka) in three different planting ratios (1W:1FB, 1W:2FB, 2W:1FB) and sole planting of the three faba bean varieties and wheat. The treatments were laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Highest days to 50% flowering (50.2 days) and days to 90% maturity (147.6 days) was recorded from variety Tumsa. The highest number of pods per plant (17.7) was obtained from variety Hachalu. Variety Ashebeka gave highest thousand kernel weight (858.7 g). The highest (38.7 g) and lowest (35.5 g) thousand kernel weight of wheat was recorded in 1W:2FB and 2W:1FB planting ratios respectively.
