Intercropping of grain pea with cereals

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a valuable crop species containing around 20% crude protein in the seed. Cultivated as a pure crop, pea is prone to lodging and susceptible to biotic and abiotic stress. This is especially the case for the taller cultivars often used for forage. This leads to diminished crop performance and inferior crop quality. This practice note provides insight into intercropping systems of pea and cereals as developed and used in Switzerland. This cropping system was developed over years in an iterative process in cooperation with farmers using farm-based experiments.