Master’s Seminar

ON

INTER-CROPPING SYSTEM IN Bt COTTON

(Gossypium hirsutum)

Submitted to-

Dr. Vikram Singh

Associate Professor

Department of Agronomy

Allahabad School of Agriculture

SHIATS

Submitted by

Vikram Pal

M.Sc. (Ag) Agronomy

I.D. No – 16MSAGRO010

Department of Agronomy

SHIATS

FLOW OF PRESENTATION

INTRODUCTION

WHY INTERCROP ?

OBJECTIVES OF INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS

TYPES OF INTER-CROPPING

ADVANTAGES

PRINCIPLES OF INTERCROPPING

RESEARCH FINDINGS REGARDING OBJECTIVES

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

Intercropping- Intercropping is the cultivation of two or

more crops at the same time on the samefield. The most common goalof intercropping is to produce a greater yieldon a given piece of land by making use ofresources that would otherwise not beutilized by a single crop.

Inter-croppingIntercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops at the same time in same field

Cabbages and Onion SORGHUM AND PIGEON PEA

Why intercrop ? 1. Stability: Intercropping adds diversity to the cropping

system and diversity tends to lead to stability.

2. Reduced chemical use. Intercropping may allow for lowerinput levels in a cropping system by reducing fertilizer andpesticide requirements.

3.Extra yield. Over yielding occurs when the yield produced byan intercrop is larger than the yield produced by thecomponent crops grown in monoculture on the same totalland area.

Objectives of intercropping systems

Intercropping was originally practiced as an insurance against crop failure underrainfall condition.

At present the main objective of intercropping is higher productivity per unit areain addition to stability in production.

Intercropping system utilizes resources sufficiently and their productivity isincreased.

Insurance against total crop failure under aberrant weather conditions or pestepidemics.

Increase in total productivity per unit land area.

Judicious utilization of resources such as land labour and inputs.

Types of Inter-Cropping

a. Mixed intercropping: Growing

two or more crops at the same

time with no distinct row

arrangement.

b. Row intercropping: Growing two

or more crops at the same time

where one or more crops are

planted in rows.

Groudnut+sorghum (6:2)

Maize and soybean

C. Strip Inter-cropping:Growing two or more crops atthe same time in different strips

wide enough to permitindependent cultivation butnarrow enough for the crops tointeract ergonomically.

d. Relay inter-cropping: Growingtwo or more crops at the sametime during part of the life cycleof each. A second crop is plantedafter the first crop has reachedits reproductive stage but beforeit is ready for harvest.

OAT + SOYABEAN

Inter-cropping may be divided into the following four groups (Singh 1990)

i) Parallel Cropping: Under this cropping two crops are selectedwhich have different growth habits and have a zero competitionbetween each other .

E.g. 1) Green gram or black gram with maize. 2) Green gram orsoybean with cotton.

ii) Companion Cropping: In companion cropping the yield of onecrop is not affected by other.

E.g.1) Mustard, wheat, potato, etc. with sugarcane 2) Wheat,radish, cabbage, sugar beat etc., with potato.

Cont.….

iii) Multistoried Cropping: or Multi-tire cropping:Growing plants of different height in the same field atthe same time is termed as multistoried cropping.

e.g. 1) Eucalyptus +Papaya + Berseem )

Multi-tire Cropping: Inter-cropping is mostly prevalentin plantation crops like coconut and areca nut. Thepractice different crops of varying heights, rootingpattern and duration are called multi-tire cropping.

e .g. Coconut + black pepper + cocoa + pineapple.

Advantages Intercropping gives higher income per unit area than

sole cropping.

Intercrops maintain soil fertility as the nutrient uptake ismade from both layers.

Reduce soil runoff.

intercropping economizes water use. E.g. Pearl millet +red grams.

Source :My Agriculture Information Bank

Principles of intercropping Intercrops should occupy a secondary place in the orchard,

primary consideration being given to the perennial fruit trees.

At least 120 cm. radius must be left from the base of the

growing fruit trees for taking intercrops.

Such intercrops should be selected that do not exhaust

the nutrient and moisture from the soil, so essential for

the growth of fruit trees.

Cont.….

Perennial or exhaustive crops should bediscouraged as an intercrop in the orchard.

This may have devitalizing effect on the growingtrees. For example, sugarcane, pigeon pea,maize, jowar should invariably be excluded froman intercropping programme in the orchard.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

REGARDING OBJECTIVES

• A field experiment was conducted during the rainy(kharif) season of 2010 and 2011 at Ludhiana, Punjabto study the effect of intercrops and different levels ofrecommended dose of nitrogen (RDN).

• The main plot treatments comprised Bt cottonintercropped with fodder maize, fodder cowpea,summer mungbean, pearlmillet fodder and long melonand subplot treatments consisted of 5 levels (0, 25, 50,75 and 100%) of recommended dose of nitrogenapplied to intercrops on area basis.

• The maximum seedcotton equivalent yield recordedunder Bt cotton + fodder maize intercropping system

Experiment on Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

Table 1. Effect of different levels of recommended dose of nitrogen to intercrops on the yield of intercrops (pooled data of 2 years)

%RDN to intercrops

Maize(fodder)

Pearlmillet(fodder)

Cowpea(fodder)

Mean

0 16.5 22.1 14.4 10.9

25 20.8 26.0 15.9 12.9

50 22.8 29.1 16.7 14.1

75 23.8 30.1 16.9 14.5

100 24.1 30.7 17.0 14.7

Mean 21.6 27.6 16.2

Intercrops yield (t/ha)

Source: Rekha and Dhuria (2010)

Table 2. Effect of different intercropping systems to intercrops on opened bolls, total bolls, boll opening percentage and boll weight of Bt cotton

Treatment Opened bolls/plant

Total bolls/plant

Boll opening %

Boll weight(g)

Bt cotton + fodder maize 28.9 B 32.7B 88.3 3.60A

Bt cotton + fodder pearlmillet 20.6 C 24.3C 85.0 3.47B

Bt cotton + fodder cowpea 29.5 A 33.6A 87.9 3.66A

Bt cotton + summer mungbean 30.3A 35.1A 86.5 3.68A

Bt cotton +long melon 31.5A 35.7A 88.3 3.68A

RATIO 1 : 1

CD (P=0.05) 3.45 3.49 NS 0.15

Source: Rekha and Dhuria (2010)

Table 3. Interaction of intercropping systems and recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) to intercrops on seed-cotton-equivalent yield (t/ha)

Bt cotton + fodder maize 2.29A 2.56A 2.69A 2.74A 2.75A

Bt cotton + fodder pearlmillet 1.60C 1.82C 1.95D 1.99E 2.00E

Bt cotton + fodder cowpea 2.24A 2.34A 2.40B 2.41B 2.42B

Bt cotton + summer mungbean 2.06A 2.21B 2.26C 2.29C 2.30C

Bt cotton +long melon 1.92B 2.05B 2.08C 2.09D 2.10D

CD (P=0.05) 0.30 0.30 0.03 0.03 0.07

RDN to intercrops(%) 0 25 50 75 100

Intercropping system (1 : 1)

Ramanjaneyulu and Reddy (2002)

CONCLUSION

By using Intercropping soil fertility, nutrient uptake and income increases per unit area in

comparison to sole cropping

References

Cotton Association of India (2008) Cotton statistics and news (Issue No. 42).Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Palchamy A, Purushothaman S, Rajgopal A (1991) Water use of crops grownin pure and intercropping stands. Indian J Agron 36:300–302

Singh A., Singh T. (2015). Growth, yield and quality of Bt cotton (Gossypiumhirsutum) as influenced by different intercropping systems and nitrogenlevels. Indian Journal of Agronomy, 60 (2): 236-244

Singh R.V., Sharma A.K. and Tomar, (2003) . Weed-control in chickpea (Cicerarietinum) under late sown condition. Indian Journal of Agronomy 48(2):114–16.