CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / A mamoneira (Ricinus communis) Ã tolerante a seca e cultivada para produÃÃo de Ãleo para uso industrial. Na regiÃo Nordeste os pequenos produtores cultivam a mamona consorciada algodÃo, feijÃo caupi, gergelim, girassol, milho, sorgo ou amendoim. Dois experimentos de campo foram conduzidos nos anos agrÃcolas 2008, 2009 e 2010, na Fazenda Experimental Lavoura Seca, QuixadÃ, CearÃ, com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento da mamona e girasssol cultivados em dois padrÃes de consorciaÃÃo. No experimento I avaliou-se o consorcio mamona (Ma) x girassol (Gi) com 1Ma:1Gi; 1Ma:2Gi; 1Ma:3Gi; 2Ma:2Gi; 2Ma:3Gi fileiras, acrescidos da mamona e girassol em monocultivo. No experimento II, avaliou-se o consorcio mamona x girassol com antecipaÃÃo do plantio da mamona em 0, 7, 14 ou 21 dias antes do plantio do girassol. Para cada experimento adotou-se o delineamento de blocos ao acaso com 4 repetiÃÃes. Avaliou-se a produtividade de grÃos, seus componentes e o uso eficiente da terra para a mamona e girassol consorciados e em monocultivo. A produtividade da mamona e girassol no monocultivo foi significativamente superior nos dois sistemas de consÃrcio. A antecipaÃÃo do plantio da mamona 14 e 21 dias em comparaÃÃo ao girassol mostraram vantagens em relaÃÃo as demais datas de plantio. No experimentos I e II verificou-se que a mamona foi dominante sobre ao girassol. PrecipitaÃÃes pluviais inferiores a demanda hÃdrica das culturas da mamona e girassol, proporcionaram reduÃÃo no uso eficiente de terra (UET). / Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is an oil seed crop drought tolerant with its oil having several uses in industry. In the Northeast of Brazil it is commonly cultivated by small farmers intercropped with cotton, cowpea, sesamum, sunflower, sorghum or peanuts. Two field experiments were carried during 2008, 2009 and 2010, at â Fazenda Experiental Lavoura Secaâ, Quixada, Ceara, with the objective to evaluate the behavior of castor bean and sunflower under two intercropping arrangements. In experiment I, its was evaluated the intercropping castor bean (CB) x sunflower (SF) with 1CB:1SF; 1CB:2SF; 1CB:3SF; 2SB:2SF; 2CB:3SF rows, added of sole crop of castor bean and sunflower. In the experiment II, was evaluated with the early planting of castor bean in 0, 7, 14 or 21 days in relations to sunflower the intercropping systems. In both experiments it was used a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. In this study it was determined the yield, yield components and land equivalent ratio (LER) for castor bean and sunflower grown in intercropping and sole crop. The grain yield of castor bean and sunflower was significantly higher in sole crop than intercropping in both experiments. Between the intercropping systems the highest yields were observed when early planting of castor bean was of 14 or 21 days before sunflower. In experiments I and II, showed that the castor bean was the dominant crop in relation to sunflower. Rainfall lower the water requirements of castor bean and sunflower crops, showed a reduction in LER.