4 tables; 7 ref. Summary (En)

Intercropping of 'Diana' field bean and 'Walter' spring wheat was investigated in a three-year field study. Field bean was the higher yielding crop of the pure stands, and the intercrops yielded slightly less or slightly more than field bean, without or with the supply of 50 kg N/ha, respectively. The planting pattern in the intercrops did not significantly influence the combined intercrop yield, but the combined seed yield of nitrogen was reduced with increased 'intimacy' among the intercrop components, due to a lower proportion of field bean in the combined intercrop yield. Intercropping significantly increased the per cent N of wheat seed, but N-fertilization had no significant influence on the combined intercrop yield of seed nitrogen, due to a lower bean content in the intercrops which received N-fertilizer. Spring wheat was more competitive than field bean in the intercrops, especially with respect to the uptake of soil mineral N. Since the main part of the soil mineral N in the intercrops was taken up by spring wheat, field bean in the intercrops had to fix a higher proportion of its nitrogen than field bean grown in pure stand. Intercropping resulted in an improved utilization ot the growth factors. Land Equivalent Ratios (LER) varied between 1.09 and 1.20 depending on the fertilizer-N supply, indicating a 9 to 20% advantage from intercropping compared to the growing of pure stands on the same unit land

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