effect of mixed cropping on yield and agronomic characteristics of wheat cultivars (triticum aestivum l.)

in order to evaluation the effect of mixed cropping on yield and agronomical characteristics of wheat (triticum aestivum l.) varieties, a field experiment based on a randomized complete block design with four replications was carried out at city of mahvelat in khorasan razavi province, iran, during growing season of 2007-2008. treatments including five sole cultures of conventional wheat cultivars viz: pishtaz (p), falat (f), shiraz (s), qods (q) and toss (t), mixed cropping of (f+p), mixed cropping of (f+p+s), mixed cropping of (f+s+t+q) and mixed cropping of (p+f+s+t+q) with equal ratio of each cultivar. traits under study were including grain and biological yield, yield components, harvest index, plant height, ear length and land equivalent ratio for grain and biological yield of wheat. results showed that mixed cropping had significant effect on all investigated traits. maximum grain yield was obtained in (f+p) mixed cropping treatments with 5425 kg.ha-1. average of mixed cropping treatments had an increasing trend in grain and biological yield as 55% and 32%, respectively. five mixed cultivars treatment had 21% grain yield less than mean of sole crops. maximum and minimum ler in grain and biological yield were obtained in mixed cropping treatments in (f+p) and (p+f+s+t+q), respectively. based on result of this study, yield of wheat cultivar in mix cropping were superior to sole crops.