The possibilities of weed control in the intercroping system of field pea and oats

Field pea is a high quality fodder crop of a short vegetation period. The production of field peas as a spring crop reduces the risk of yield losses due to unfavourable winter conditions, improves soil characteristics and ensures high quality fodder at the end of the spring. Intercropping with oats is often carried out due to the fact that field pea requires support and both species have similar developmental stages. The field experiment was set up at the Institute for Animal Husbandry in Zemun in 2017, in order to study the forage yield and the possibility of weed control by cultivating the mixture of field pea and oats. Serbian varieties of field pea NS Junior and oats cultivar Dunav were included in the trial, intercropped according to the 'additive model' in two ways: 100:15% and 100:30% pea : oats, when compared to monoculture (100% pea and 100% oats). In the 100:15% intercrop model of field pea and oats , the number of weed units and their fresh and dry weight were lower than in monocultures, while the higher presence of weeds in the 100:30% model was significantly affected by the high number and biomass production of weed species Ambrosia artemisiifolia. The cultivation of oats and field pea in the mixture significantly increased the yield of fresh and dry biomass, when compared to monocultures, while there was no significant difference in yield between the different methods of peas and oats (100:15% and 100:30%) intercropping. The higher share of oats at the crop establishment stage did not increase the forage yield, indicating the dominant contribution of the field pea biomass in the mixture.