A field experiment was established to evaluate the effect of intercropping
Chinese garlic with fennel, coriander or caraway plants on the growth, yield, oil
content and economic return of these species. The experiment was conducted at the
Experimental Farm of the Desert Development Center, American University in Cairo
(DOC, AUC) in South Tahrir during the two successive seasons of 1999/2000 and
2000/2001. The obtained results showed that, the growth characters (No. of branches
& leaves/plant, fresh & dry weights/plant, No. of cloves/bulb & umbels/plant, clove
weight and weight of 100 fruits) of intercropped plants were significantly decreased by
intercropping, while the plant height of fennel, coriander or caraway was slightly
increased. Intercropping significantly decreased the yield of each crop as compared to
the pure stand treatments of each one. On contrary, the intercropping treatments
increased the productivity/feddan (net profit) than pure stand treatments, except
intercropping Chinese garlic with fennel, which produced less monetary return than
pure stand of Chinese garlic. Essential oil percentage of Chinese garlic tended to
decrease due to intercropping, while it was not affected in fennel, coriander or
caraway. The main components of essential oil of studied plants were not
substantially affected by intercropping treatments. However, land equivalent ratio was
greater than one. Intercropping Chinese garlic with coriander is recommended to
obtain the highest value of land equivalent ratio and land usage, followed by caraway
and fennel, respectively.