Intercropping of corn with soybean and lupin for silage: Effect of seedingdate on yield and quality

Intercropping of corn with legumes is an alternative to corn monocropping a nd has a number of advantages, for example, lower levels of inputs, lower c osts of production and better silage quality than the monocrop system. An e xperiment was carried out at two sites in 1993 and 1994 to investigate the effects of seeding date (simultaneous with corn or 3 weeks later) and numbe r of rows of large-seeded legumes (one or two) seeded between the corn rows . The intercrop plots received 90 kg ha(-1) less nitrogen fertilizer than t he monocrop plots, which received 180 kg ha(-1). Silage yields were sometim es decreased by the simultaneous seeding of corn and large-seeded legumes. Protein content and concentration were not affected by most treatments and provided reasonable quality silage, despite a reduction in the amount of ni trogen fertilizer used.