evaluation of agronomical traits fennel (foeniculum vulgare mill) – fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum l.) in intercropping

in order to study yield and yield components of fennel (foeniculum vulgare mill) – fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum l.) in different patterns of intercropping and sole cropping, an experiment with use replacement and additive intercropping based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted at the research station of faculty of agriculture, zanjan university, iran, during growing season 2012. treatments included additive intercropping in three levels (%100 fennel + 33, 66 and %100 fenugreek), replacement intercropping in six levels (1:1, 1:2, 2:1, 2:2, 1:3, 3:1), sole fennel and sole fenugreek. results showed that most traits significantly (p≤0/05) were affected by different sowing pattern with the exception 1000-seed weight and harvest index in fennel. fenugreek and fennel yield increased with higher each of ratio in intercropping. the highest grain yield of fenugreek was obtained in pure stand of fenugreek and the lowest it was obtained in the 3:1 replacement series. also in fennel %100 fennel + %33 fenugreek additive series and 1:3 replacement series have the highest and the lowest seed yield respectively. land equivalent ratio (ler) was more than 1.00 in all sowing patterns.