Abstract
Biological efficiency and ecoflomlC$ of different wheat-based intefcropping systems were determined on a sandy clay loam soil, at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Intercropping systems comprised wheat + methra, wheat + lentil, wheat + gram, wheat + linseed, wheat + barley and sole wheat. Wheat was planted in 100 cm spaced 4-row strips with 20 cm space between the rows in a strip. lntercrops were sown between the wheat strips at the time (,)f planting wheat. Different yield components of wheat were invariably influenced significantly by the M80eiated cultures. Intercropping of rnstbra. lentil, gram, linseed and barley reduced wheat yield to the extent of 320, 326, 200, 520 and 706 kg ha', respectively. At the cost of this much reduction in wheat yiet.d, an additional harvest of 3.84, 270, 242, 347 and 699 kg ha' of the respective intercrops was obtained. All the intercropping systems except wheat + badey gave substantially higher total wheat yield equivalent than sole wheat (2491 kg ha"), being the maximum of3975 and 3515 kg ha' for wheat + methra and wheat + lentil, respectively. Similarly, in monetary terms, both the wheat-methra and Wheat-lentil intercropping systems proved to be more beneficial than other intercropping systems including the monocropped wheat. Key words: biological and economic assessment, wheat-based intercropping
