Productivity of Cotton in Association with Food Crops in Soil without Nutritional Assistances

Intercropped systems have agro-ecological and socioeconomic advantages over monocultures. Cotton is used in systems associated with food crops as an option to increase sustainability in family farming. The objective of this research was to evaluate the productivity of cotton in association with food crops, without using any nutritional assistance in the soil. This study was conducted on the rainy season of 2020 in Manabí-Ecuador. Six treatments were performed: four treatments related with the association of cotton with peanut, cowpea bean, field corn, and sweet corn; and two treatments with cotton monoculture (with and without soil fertilization). Agronomic, productive, and phytosanitary variables were evaluated in 60 m2 experimental plots. A randomized complete block design with four replications was used. The results determined that cotton yield in the association with peanut was significantly equal to the monoculture with and without fertilization. In the intercropped food crops, there was a reduction in production in relation to the monocultures. However, it was the peanut in association with cotton with the lowest reduction, in addition to presenting the best Land Equivalence Ratio (1.71) and the best Marginal Rate of Return (120.56%), which suggests that this association is a viable alternative and easy to adopt by the small cotton producer.