GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF FODDER CROPS UNDER EUCALYPTUS BASED SILVIPASTURE SYSTEM IN SEMI-ARID REGION OF INDIA

STANLEY KOMBRA, K. S. AHLAWAT, R. S. DHILLON, CHHAVI SIROHI, V. S. HOODA, SNEH YADAV* AND VIRENDER DALAL
Department of Forestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : snehyadav1091995@gmail.com)
(Received : 12 December; Accepted : 30 December 2021)

SUMMARY

There is a large gap between the demand and supply of green fodder during lean period. A study was conducted at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana to assess the productivity of fodder crops (berseem and oat) under a eucalyptus-based silvipasture system. The present study was carried out a 2.8-year-old plantation of Eucalyptus tereticornis planted at a spacing of 7m×3m and during the winter season (Rabi) different, fodder crops, viz. oat (Avena sativa) cv. OS-6 and berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum) cv. Mescavi, were sown under eucalyptus plantation and control with four replications. The results revealed that the maximum numbers of plants per m2 (420.3) at 20 DAS, plant height (42.7 cm) at 120 DAS, fresh matter (1428.5 g), dry matter (191.4 g) at 150 DAS and green fodder yield (45.2 t/ha) of berseem was recorded in control (sole crop) than under eucalyptus plantation. Similarly, in oat maximum numbers of plants per meter row length (72.3) at 20 DAS, maximum plant height (135.2 cm), maximum fresh matter (3250.8 g), dry matter (412.3 g) at harvest and maximum green fodder yield (31.1 t/ha) was recoded in control (sole
crop) than in eucalyptus based cropping system. The maximum gross return (Rs. 240056.2/ha) and
net return (Rs. 102799.8/ha) were obtained from eucalyptus + berseem silvipasture system while the maximum benefit-to-cost ratio (BC ratio) was obtained under eucalyptus + oat system (1.75) closely followed by eucalyptus + berseem system (1.74).

Key words:Eucalyptus, oat, berseem, B:C ratio, silvipasture

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