Bio-economic assessment of silviagriculture systems for sustainable productivity

Abstract

Field trials were conducted in agroforestry system involving short rotation tree species and cereal, legume, oilseed and vegetable intercrops to assess the biomass production in silviagriculture system. The results revealed that in pungam and simaruba based silviagriculture system, red gram recorded the highest grain yield and net returns. Under Eucalyptus tereticornis, cow pea and black gram recorded the lowest grain yields of 282 and 193 kg ha-1. Under rain fed ecosystem, Ailanthus excelsa based silviagricultural system was found to profitable. Legume crops were found to be the compatible and profitable intercrop under silviagricultural systems.