Plant Arrangement, Nitrogen Rate, and Planting Time for Productivity and Economic Return of Wheat–Legume Intercropping in Northern Ethiopia

Enhancing agricultural productivity through intercropping requires agronomic techniques such as timing the planting of legume crops, selecting fertilizer rate, and determining the proper proportion. A 2‐year field experiment was conducted in 2022 and 2023 to evaluate the effects of fertilizer rate, intercropping timing, and legume row arrangement on wheat–legume intercropping systems. The experiment included 2:1 and 3:1 wheat–legume row ratios. Wheat was spaced at 20 cm, while faba bean and lupin were spaced at 10 cm × 40 cm and 7 cm × 30 cm, respectively. Legumes were sown either simultaneously with wheat or 2 weeks after wheat planting. Sole wheat produced the highest grain yield (3.78 t ha ⁻¹ ). However, wheat grain yield in the treatment in which faba bean was sown 2 weeks after wheat at a 3:1 wheat‐to‐faba bean row ratio with recommended (100%) fertilizer rate was 3.61 t ha ⁻¹ , and this yield was statistically comparable to that of sole wheat ( p > 0.05). This intercropping system also produced the highest land equivalent ratio (LER) (1.87), wheat equivalent yield (WEY) (6.102 t ha ⁻¹ ), and economic returns. Accordingly, this study suggests that planting faba bean in 2 weeks after wheat in a 3:1 wheat‐to‐legume row ratio with100% fertilizer application as a viable intercropping practice for farmers in the northwestern Ethiopian highlands.