THE ROLE OF INTERCROPPING CARAWAY (Carum carvi L.) AND GARLIC (Allium sativum L.) ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD UNDER DIFFERENT RATES OF POTASSIUM FERTILIZATION.

A field experiment was conducted at a private farm in Taha El-Marg Village, Diarb Negm District, Al Sharqia Governorate, Egypt during the two consecutive winter seasons of 2020/ 2021 and 2021/2022. This experiment was done to study the effect of intercropping systems between caraway: garlic at different row ratio (sole crop of each as control, 1: 2, 2: 1 and 2: 2, respectively), different potassium rates (0, 25, 50 and 75 kg K2O/feddan) and their combination on growth and yield of caraway and garlic plants. Main plots consisted in the intercropping systems and the subplots were constituted by the potassium fertilization rates. Alternating two rows of caraway with two rows of garlic significantly increased plant height, number of branches per plant, plant fresh weight, number of umbels per plant and fruit yield per plant compared to sole caraway planting. Also, using 1: 2 intercropping system gave the highest values regard plant height, plant fresh weight and bulb fresh weight compared to sole garlic planting. Moreover, the highest potassium fertilization rate (75 kg K2O /feddan) gave the highest values in growth traits and yield components of caraway and garlic crops compared to control. Sole crop of caraway and garlic significantly recorded the highest values of fruits and bulbs yield per feddan compared to intercropping systems under study. In general, the combination between intercropping system and potassium affected growth and yield components of both crops and the best treatment in this regard was 2: 2 system for caraway and 1: 2 for garlic and 75 kg K2O/feddan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]