EFFECTS OF VARYING SEED RATES OF INTERCROPS ON FORGAE YIELD OF SWEET SORGHUM
BRAJKISHOR PRAJAPATI* AND KEWALANAND
Department of Agronomy
Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology,
Pantnagar-263145 (Uttarakhand), India
*(e-mail : brajkishorprajapati1@gmail.com)
(Received : 13 October 2016; Accepted : 24 December 2016)
SUMMARY
The experiment was conducted at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, U. S. Nagar, Uttarakhand, India during kharif seasons of 2013 and 2014 (sown on 10th June and 15th June) to test intercropping treatments for optimizing seed rate. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design consisting of nine treatments (sole sorghum, sole cowpea, sole ricebean, intercropping of cowpea and ricebean each with at 25, 50 and 75 per cent of recommended seed rates) with sweet sorghum. The recommended fertilizers viz., nitrogen (N) and P2O5 120 and 60 kg/ha for sole sorghum, 20 and 60 kg/ha for sole legumes and 80 and 60 kg/ha for intercropping systems, respectively, were applied. In sole sorghum 2/3 N along with all Phosphorus were applied as basal and the remaining 1/3 N top dressed at 30 DAS. In legume crops, whole nitrogen along with phosphorus was applied as basal. The findings revealed that intercropping of cowpea with 25% seed rate maintained higher green forage, dry fodder and digestible dry matter yield in sweet sorghum as well as the system productivity compared to remaining treatments, however, it was at par with sweet sorghum+cowpea (50%) intercropping treatment. Intercropping system reduced green forage, dry fodder, crude protein yield and crude protein content of cowpea and ricebean but enhanced the digestible dry matter yield. However, the digestible dry matter content of cowpea and ricebean remained unaffected.
Key words: Cowpea, sorghum, seed rate, rice bean