This work was carried out in Jaboticabal, São Paulo State, Brazil, from September 2003 to January 2004, to evaluate the feasibility of an intercropping system of pepper with cabbage, rocket, lettuce and radish, in relation to their monocultives. The experiment consisted of 15 treatments, corresponding to 10 intercropping and five monocultives. The experimental design was a radomized block with six replications. The hybrid Magali R and Kenzan were used, respectively, for pepper and cabbage; and cultivars Vera, Cultivada and Crimson Gigante, respectively, for lettuce, rocket and radish. Yields of pepper and cabbage in intercropping did not differ significantly to that obtained in monocultive. The largest fresh mass of the aerial part of lettuce (438.86 g/plant) was observed in lettuce and pepper intercropping cultivation. In the other cultivations, 323.05 g/plant was obtained of lettuce. Increase in yield of commercial roots of radish was observed in radish and pepper intercropping, however, it was significantly larger to the intercropping cultivation of the pepper+cabbage+radish only. The fresh mass of the aerial part of the rocket showed statistical difference between pepper+rocket+lettuce and pepper+rocket+cabbage intercropping. Except for pepper+cabbage intercropping with land efficient use (LEU) of 1.92, all the intercropping cultives showed LEU higher than 2.0, with highwest LEU (2.64) obtained with pepper+lettuce intercropping. The better results obtained with intercropping in relation to production of food per area, demonstrate the viability of policultives and better land efficient use.
Lactuca sativa; Capsicum annuum; Brassica oleracea var; capitata; Raphanus sativus; Eruca sativa; production system
