Effect of maize and chickpea intercropping under the different row ratios on soil moisture depletion

Abstract

An experiment was laid out to study the effect of maize and chickpea intercropping under the different row ratios on soil moisture depletion at Agronomy farm, B. A. College of Agriculture, AAU, Anand (Gujarat), India during the rabi season of the year 2021-2022. The soil of the experimental field was loamy sand. The objective was to determine the effect of maize and chickpea intercropping and row ratios on soil moisture depletion. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with six treatments replicated four times. The treatments details are T1: Sole maize, T2: Sole chickpea, T3: Maize paired row, T4: Maize + chickpea (1: 1), T5: Maize + chickpea (1: 2), T6: Maize + chickpea (2: 2). During the initial stages of crop growth, the primary cause of moisture loss was evaporation from the soil surface. Greater drop in soil moisture of the deeper layer (30 to 45 cm) was observed in intercropping treatments, particularly those that had a higher proportion of chickpea rows.