Intercropping of Flax Seed (Linum usitatissimum L.) and Pinto Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Under Foliar Application of Iron Nano Chelated and Zinc

     In order to evaluate the intercropping advantage of flax seed (Linum usitatissimum L.) and pinto bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)under foliar application of Nano chelated iron and zinc, a field experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications on the filed located in Naghedeh,West Azerbaijan province, Iran during growing season of 2013-2014. The fertilizer treatments included control (no fertilizer), Nano chelated iron, Nano chelated zinc and Nano chelated iron+ Nano chelated zinc and intercropping patterns consist of one row of flax seed + one row of pinto bean, one row of flax seed + two rows of pinto bean, two rows of flax seed + one row of pinto bean, two rows of flax seed + two rows of pinto bean and sole cropping of each crop. Results showed that the intercropping patterns had significant effect on all of mentioned traits. The highest seed and biological yield of pinto bean were achieved in solecropping but the maximum protein content was observed in row intercropping. In flaxseed, the highest biological yield, seed yield and protein content were obtained in sole-cropping, however, the highest oil percentage of all treatments was higher than solecropping. Foliar spray with Nano chelated iron and zinc had significant effect on quantitative and qualitative yield of flax seed and pinto bean. Quantitative and qualitative yield of flax seed and pinto bean were enhanced by foliar spray of Nano chelated iron and zinc, compared with control. Among treatments, combined usage of Nano chelate showed the greater increasing in studied traits than individual consumption. The maximum LER values (1.89) were obtained for two rows of flax seed + two rows of bean with Nano chelated iron, respectively. This means that intercropping improved land use efficiency by 89%, compared with solecropping.