17. Production potential of pigeonpea/pearl millet intercropping system in rainfed diara (floodprone) areas of eastern uttar pradesh, India.
In: Pigeonpea Newsletter (IPN), 14, 1991, pp. 14-17
Most of the agricultural land of Diara regions are small and marginal units, and farmers adopt mixed cropping of pigeonpea and pearl millet during monsoon with poor yields.
Farmers of the area mix seeds of pigeonpea and pearl millet in about equal proportion of the required seeds of both the crops and broadcast them in the field along with a small amount of fertilizers (about 9 kg N and 10 kg P ha-1).
Two experiments were conducted. The experiments were laid out in a randomized-block-design with four replications having five treatments of pigeonpea.
Sole crop treatments of both the crops were grown at their optimal plant population.
Intercropping of one row of pearl millet in between two rows of pigeonpea was done and plant populations of pearl millet were maintained by reducing within-row spacing.
Intercropping of pigeonpea (100% plant population) with various plant populations of pearl millet in additive combinations was more productive than growing them as sole crops, as total land-equivalent ratio (LER) values were greater than 1.0 for these treatments.
With the increasing plant population of the intercrop pearl millet, the pigeonpea yield decreased, probably because of increasing competition from pearl millet. In the pigeonpea pearl millet intercropping system, partial LERs for pigeonpea were less than those for pigeonpea grown alone. This indicates suppression of pigeonpea growth by pearl millet.
The total partial LERs of pearl millet, however, were greater than pearl millet alone up to 100% plant population, but it decreased at 150% plant population of pearl millet. Thus, the overall efficiency of pigeonpea/pearl millet intercropping system was optimal with a pigeonpea plant pupulation of 100% and pearl millet plant population of 50%. It seems that pearl millet better utilized space and resources between two rows of long-duration pigeonpea up to 100% plant population.
At 150% plant population of pearl millet between two rows of initially slow-growing, long-duration pigeonpea, both the crops were put under stress for space, light, and other resources resulting in reduced yields of both crops.
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Asia, Bangladesh, field trial, rainfed conditions, silty loam, mixed cropping, lentil, barley, sole cropping, land equivalent ratio, monetary returns
ISLAM, M.N. et al.
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