Microclimate and development of black pepper intercropped with rubber tree

Pepper producers are searching for more sustainable production systems. Shaded cultivation is presented as a management option to attenuate black pepper environmental stresses. This work aims to evaluate the microclimate and Piper nigrum L. cv. Bragantina (black pepper) plants development under different shading levels promoted by the intercropping with Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex A. Juss.) Mull. Arg. (clone FX 3864) (rubber tree) plants or under unshaded conditions. Black pepper plants were intercropped with rubber tree plants, with the same age, planted in rows with 16 × 4 × 2 m spacing, resulting in five rows of black pepper followed by two rows of rubber trees. Climatic variables (temperature, irradiance, and relative humidity) and leaf areas were evaluated over four seasons. Shading black pepper with rubber tree resulted in both decreased irradiance and temperature and an increase in the relative humidity at all times under shaded cultivation. This shading led to higher leaf expansion and greater levels of chlorophyll, demonstrating adaptation to low light. Shading black pepper Hevea brasiliensis under the conditions studied here showed intercropping potential, and it simultaneously allows for wood production.