Selectivity of herbicides for pigeon pea grown in intercropping with maize

No common herbicides are advised for corn and pigeon pea, complicating the intercropping process. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the selectivity of some herbicides for pigeon pea grown in intercropping with maize and the effects of intercropping on the development and yield of intercropped crops, as well as on the nutritional quality of the produced silages. The experimental design was randomized blocks with four replications, and the treatments were arranged in split-plots. The monoculture of corn and the intercropping of corn with pigeon pea variety IAC Fava Larga, as well as corn with pigeon pea variety Bonamigo 2 Super N, were allocated in the plots. The subplots were comprised of, the control, weeding, and the mixtures of the herbicides S-metolachlor+flumioxazin, S-metolachlor+saflufenacil, and S-metolachlor+mesotrione. The combination of S-metolachlor and mesotrione resulted in the least weed density and dry mass production. The herbicide that most injured pigeon pea was the mixture of S-metolachlor+mesotrione. There was no effect of herbicides on plant height, final plant population, and fresh and dry biomass productivity of pigeon pea. The intercropping of corn with pigeon pea did not influence corn yield but increased the crude protein, mineral matter, ether extract, and decreased dry matter, total digestible nutrients and in vitro dry matter digestibility contents of the produced silage. All of the herbicides showed potential use for the pigeon pea cultivars studied here.