Performance of different crop geometry on yield advantage assessment and economics of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) + Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L) intercropping system

Abstract

The field experiment was carried out in the Kharif season of 2017 at the College of Agriculture, Parbhani (Maharashtra), Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy. Three replications and a randomized block design were used to set up the experiment. There were eight different treatment combinations in all, including two intra-row spacings divided into three rows of pigeonpea and two sole cropping treatments of pearl millet and pigeonpea added at the prescribed spacing of their respective crops. Planting geometry of pigeonpea in treatments T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6 was evaluated with a row proportion of 1: 1, 1: 1, 1: 1, 1: 1, 1: 2, and 1: 2 in 90 cm x 30 cm, 90 cm x 45 cm, 120 cm x 30 cm, 150 cm x 30 cm, and 150 cm x 45 cm, respectivly. 90 cm x 20 cm and 45 cm x 15 cm, respectively, were the sole treatments T7 and T8 of pearl millet and pigeonpea that were studied for planting geometry. Out of all the treatments for the pigeonpea + Pearl millet intercropping system under rainfed conditions, T7, or sole pigeonpea with planting geometry (90 x 20 cm), had the highest pigeonpea equivalent yield (2073 kg ha-1) and B:C ratio (3.55). This was followed by T1 (90 cm × 30 cm + 45 cm × 15 cm - 1947.7 kg ha-1), or having row proportion 1:1; T3 (120 cm x 30 cm + 60 cm × 15 cm -1853.4 kg ha-1); and T5 (150 cm x 30 cm + 50 cm × 15 cm -1789.8 kg ha-1), or having row proportion 1: 2. That is why the pigeonpea equivalent yield was better in the intercropping system when the intra-row spacing was 30 cm under the 90 cm, 120 cm, and 150 cm of pigeonpea row spacing, along with the 1: 1, 1: 1, and 1: 2 pigeonpea + Pearl millet row proportion.