Abstract

GONZALEZ PERIGO, Yaniuska; LEYVA GALAN, Angel  and  PINO PEREZ, Oriela. Competence for interference of Helianthus annuus L., associated to Solanum lycopersicum L. under field conditions. cultrop [online]. 2014, vol.35, n.4, pp.28-35. ISSN 0258-5936.

The study was conducted in order to investigate the possible competition between Helianthus annus L. sunflower) over Solanum lycopersicum L. (tomato) associated in field conditions of Guantanamo´s province mountain agro ecosystem, Cuba, during September to December period, for two years. Four treatments were studied: tomato monoculture; sunflower monoculture; tomato planted simultaneously with sunflower; and tomato planted ten days before sunflower. Crops were established in stripes of 150 m². The most efficient treatment (tomato planted ten days before sunflower) was repeated during the second year, together with monoculture treatments. Land Use Equivalent Index (IET), based in crop yields and considering the total policulture system period (ATER) were calculated. The greatest tomato production was found in tomato planted ten days before sunflower treatment; as IET value was greater than one, economical benefits could be attributed related to monoculture, but ATER reached values of one, indicating neutrality. Nevertheless, taking into account the ecological benefits the result constitutes an option among functional diversity due to the fact that association improves ecosystem balance because in it, two food crops were obtained, increases soil use efficiency, and probably also it estimulate beneficial insect fauna

Keywords : tomato; sunflower; interspecific competition; allelopathy.

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