The milpa intercropped with fruit trees system increases the land equivalent ratio in the mazahua region on State of México

Abstract

The milpa intercropped with fruit trees (MIFT) is a multi-crop agroecological system designed
for small-scale farmers on hillside. The main of this work was to compare the land equivalent
ratio (LER) of the diverse milpa in comparison to the monocultures of each species. An experiment
was established for two years in a peasant farm in the northwest of the State of Mexico.
Native yellow maize (Zea mays L.) were associated with bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in two
rows. These two rows were intercropped with other two rows with green tomatoes (Physalis
ixocarpa Brot.) and Cempaxúchitl (Tagetes erecta). With the same management, the monoculture
plots, of each specie, were established. ERT was calculated. In the 2015 year it was 1.74
and in 2016 it was 1.41. This indicated that 1.74 and 1.41 hectares of monoculture are required
to obtain the yields obtained in one hectare of polyculture.