Studies on intercropping of mustard varieties with chickpea

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during two seasons (Rabi 2001-02 and 2003-04) to screen the most suitable variety of mustard grown in association with chickpea and to evaluate the effect of mustard varieties on the yield of chickpea and vice-versa. In this study, seven mustard varieties were tested with chickpea in 1:4 row ratio. Results showed that intercropped chickpea produced statistically lower grain yield than sole crop during both the years on area basis. On an average, intercropping of mustard varieties with chickpea reduced the grain yield of chickpea to the extent of 10.15, 9.40, 5.01, 5.50, 9.44, 5.05 and 8.31 per cent with Varuna, Vaibhav, Urvashi, Kanti, Vardan, Basanti and Rohini, respectively. Intercropped mustard gave significantly lower yield than pure cropping during both years on area basis. The positive effects of chickpea on the seed yield of mustard varieties on mean basis were 14.04, 15.49, 22.41, 9.16, 16.55, 14.04 and 12.44 per cent in Varuna, Vaibhav, Urvashi, Kanti, Vardan, Basanti and Rohini, respectively. Intercropping of mustard variety Urvashi proved to be the most suitable for association with chickpea (1:4 row ratio) as it gave maximum seed yield of 11.65 q'' ha, chickpea equivalent yield of 36.94 q'1 ha, net profit of Rs. 33359 ha, LER (1.18) and MAI of Rs. 7321" ha followed by Basanti.