Crop varieties are different in nutrient uptake, and intercropping may influence nutrient uptake and disease incidence of the crops. Pot experiments were carried out to investigate the characteristics of N, P and K uptake and powdery mildew incidence of 6 wheat cultivars, which differed in powdery mildew resistance and were intercropped with faba bean: 2 highly resistant cultivars YM47 and YM53, 2 medium resistant cultivars YM42 and YM51 and 2 sensitive cultivars YX11-12 and YX93-124. The biomass of YM47 and YM53 increased by 11.9% and 6.6% in intercropping, compared with that in mono-cropping. Nitrogen contents of the leaves of intercropped wheat cultivars YM47 and YM53 and YX11-12 significantly increased, by 1.20-1.25 times in comparison with those of mono-cropping. The phosphorus contents of wheat leaves increased at the milky and ripening stages, and potassium content of wheat leaves significantly increased by 9.1-22.3% at the jointing stage under the intercropping. The incidence of wheat powdery mildew of all wheat cultivars significantly decreased under the intercropping system, the relative disease controlling effects being 0.76-81.49%. The most desirable disease-controlling effects under the intercropping were observed in YM42, YM53 and YM93-142 at the milky stage.
