THE PERFORMANCE OF NEW PEARL MILLET HYBRIDS WITH GREENGRAM UNDER SOLE CROPPING AND INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS IN SEMI-ARID ENVIRONMENT
RENU*, ANIL KUMAR AND PARVEEN KUMAR
Bajra Section, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding
CCS Haryana Agricultural University,
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : renugoyat2010@gmail.com)
(Received : 20 February 2017; Accepted : 25 May 2017)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted during kharif season 2015 at Research Farm of the Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar consisting of nine treatments viz., four sole pearl millet hybrids [T1 : HHB 67 Improved, T2 : HHB 197, T3 : HHB 226 and T4 : HHB 234) and four intercropping combinations of these pearl millet hybrids with greengram variety MH 421 in paired rows (30 : 60 cm) in 2 : 1 row ratio (T5 : HHB 67 Improved+MH 421, T6 : HHB 197+MH 421, T7 : HHB 226+MH 421 and T8 : HHB 234+MH 421] along with one sole crop of greengram variety MH 421 and was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. The intercropping with greengram brought out earliness by 1.0, 1.4, 0.7 and 0.4 days for 50 per cent flowering in HHB 67 Improved, HHB 197, HHB 226 and HHB 234 hybrids, respectively, as compared to their sole stand. The LAI attained its peak values at 40 days after sowing (DAS), whereas LAD was maximum during 40-60 DAS crop growth period among all the treatments and HHB 197 based treatments (T2 and T6) showed their comparative superiority over other treatments. The crop growth rate (CGR) and relative growth rate (RGR) attained their peak values during 21-40 DAS. During this period, the CGR and RGR values were recorded in the range of 48.7 to 56.9 g/m2/day and 148.6 to 156.7 mg/g/day, respectively, in sole treatments (T1 to T4), whereas in intercropping systems (T5 to T8), the values were 44.6 to 52.8 g/m2/day and 145.6 to 158.7 mg/ g/day, respectively. Intercropping of greengram with pearl millet hybrids in 2 : 1 row ratio produced statistically at par pearl millet grain yield as compared to their sole stands, however, the per cent decrease was 8.5, 3.4, 5.6 and 9.6 in the intercropping treatments of pearl millet hybrids HHB 67 Improved, HHB 197, HHB 226 and HHB 234, respectively. The decrease in grain yield was comparatively more in the hybrid HHB 234 based intercropping system and least in the HHB 197 based cropping system.
Key words: Pearl millet hybrids, intercropping, greengram, phenology, growth indices and productivity