A field experiment was conducted over two consecutive summer growing seasons, 2021 and 2022, to assess the efficacy of foliar treatments (control, Nofatrein, Citreen, and Nofatrein + Citreen) and intercropping of varying plant densities of sesame (25.0%, 33.33%, and 50.0% of recommended density, RD) with maize. The trial employed a split-plot design with three biological replicates. The main plots were designated for different foliar treatment regimes, while the sub-plots were allocated for evaluating three sesame plant densities in the intercropping system with maize.
The results demonstrated that the synergistic foliar application of Nofatrein and Citreen resulted in superior agronomic parameters (plant height (cm) and leaf area (cm2), including enhanced crop yield and yield components (number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, ear weight (g), ear grain weight (g), (%), and 100-grain weight. for maize and number of capsules/plant (cm), number of seeds/capsule, seeds weight/plant (g), 1000- seed weight (g) for sesame in the intercropping system. Intercropping maize at 25.0% RD of sesame yielded optimal agronomic performance in terms of crop yield and yield attributes for maize. Conversely, such density (25.0%) was associated with the lowest seed and oil yields per hectare for intercropped sesame in comparison to the other tested densities.
The study further identified that the maximal Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), Relative Crowding Coefficient (R.C.C.), and net economic return were realized when employing an alternative ridge sowing technique: maize was sown on one side of each ridge while sesame was sown on the opposite side, with this configuration repeating every three ridges producing 33.33% RD of sesame. This optimal planting configuration was notably effective when accompanied by bi-modal foliar application of Nofatrein and Citreen, under the climatic conditions prevalent in the Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt.