Greeks combine winter wheat and peas

A group of researchers (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greek Agricultural Organization-Demetra) highlighted the importance of crop improvement for intercropping in an article published in Agronomy 2022 on the MDPI portal. “Consortium is an agricultural practice for low consumption farming systems that is gaining interest. One of the most popular ways to combine crops is to mix some annual pulses with cereals. Although in temperate climates binary mixtures have been shown to be more effective in growing for animal feed than in producing grain, research is ongoing to select grains specifically for binary crops. – Authors write. – Until now, varieties bred for monoculture have been used in mixed systems, which do not always adapt well to binary planting. Furthermore, the productivity of a variety/cultivar grown as a single crop does not necessarily reflect its productivity in a mixed cropping system due to local selection pressures created by interspecific interactions of ...