In a field study the biological efficiency of intercropping in direct seeded upland rice and its effect on residual soil fertility was determined at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for two consecutive years. The intercropping systems comprised rice alone, rice + maize, rice + sesbania, rice + mungbean, rice + ricebean, rice + cowpea and rice + pigeonpea. The rice was seeded in 75 cm spaced 4-row strips (15/75 cm) while the intercrops as forage were seeded on the vacant spaces between the rice strips. The results revealed that rice grain yield decreased to a significant level by forage intercrops compared to monocropped rice which varied from 10.94 to 25.87%, with the maximum (25.87%) by sesbania followed by pigeonpea (16.67) against the minimum (10.94%) by maize intercrop. In terms of total rice grain yield equivalent (TRGYE), the highest TRGYE (6.45 ton ha -1 ) was recorded for rice + forage maize intercropping system followed by rice + cowpea (5.08 ton ha -1 ) and rice + sesbania (4.92 ton ha -1 ) against the minimum (4.02 ton ha -1 ) for monocropped rice clearly indicating yield advantages of intercropping over monocropping of rice. Similarly the net field benefits obtained from different intercropping systems were considerably higher than the sole cropping of rice. The maximum net benefit of Rs.42325 ha -1 was recorded for rice + maize which is 37.32% more than sole rice followed by rice + cowpea (Rs.30885 ha -1 ) which is 14.03% higher than monocropping of rice (Rs.26526 ha -1 ). The results also revealed that residual soil nitrogen and organic matter was improved in all the intercropping systems except rice + maize intercropping system. However, the maximum increase in soil nitrogen (7.14%) was recorded for rice + sesbania intercropping system while the residual soil phosphorus and potassium were depleted in all the intercropping systems as compared to initial soil analysis.
The performance of mungbean intercropped in sesame under different geometric arrangements was determined o sandy-clay loam soil at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for two consecutive years (2001-02). The planting patterns consisted of 40 cm spaced single rows, 60 cm spaced 2-row strips and 100 cm spaced 4-row strips while mungbean was intercropped in all the three planting patterns and also grown as a sole crop. The results evinced that planting sesame in 100 cm spaced 4-row strips explored the possibility of intercropping in sesame. It not only permitted convenient intercropping but also facilitated the harvesting and handling of intercrops without doing any damage to the base crop. Intercropping sesame with mungbean in the pattern of 100 cm spaced 4-row strips appeared to be more convenient, productive and profitable than the monocropped sesame.
The competitive behavior of components crops in different sesame-based intercropping systems under different planting patterns was studied on a sandy-clay loam soil at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for two consecutive years. The planting patterns comprised 40 cm spaced single row, 60 cm spaced 2-rows strips and 100 cm spaced 4-rows strips, while the intercropping systems were sesame alone, sesame + mungbean, sesame + mashbean, Sesame + soybean, and sesame + cowpea. The sesame grown in association with different gain legumes appeared to be a dominant crop as indicated by its higher values of relative crowding coefficient, competitive ratio and positive sign of the aggressively. This led to the conclusion that sesame grown in association with mungbean, mashbean, soybean and cowpea utilized the resources more aggressively than the respective intercrops, which appeared to be dominated. Regardless of the planting patterns, mungbean proved to be more compe
titive than mashbean, soybean and cowpea, which exhibited almost similar competitive behavior.
A field experiment was conducted on a sandy-clay loam soil at the agronomic area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for two consecutive years to evaluate the effect of grain legumes intercropping and the planting patterns on the agronomic traits of sesame. The planting patterns comprised 40 cm spaced single rows, 60 cm spaced 2-row strips and 100 cm spaced 4-row strips while the intercropping systems were sesame + mungbean, sesame + mashbean, sesame + soybean and sesame + cowpea and sesame alone. The various yield components of sesame such as number of capsules plant, seed weight plant, 1OOO-seed weight and plant height were affected significantly by different intercropping systems and planting patterns. Grain legumes intercropping reduced the seed yield of sesame to a significant level by adversely affecting its yield components. However, the additional harvest of each intercrop compensated more than the loss in sesame production. Among the intercropping patterns sesame intercropped with mungbean, mashbean, soybean and cowpea in the pattern of 100 cm spaced 4-row strips proved to be feasible, easily workable and more productive than sesame monocropping. Of the intercropping systems, sesame + mungbean or sesame + mash bean were found to be superior
In a field study the biological efficiency of intercropping in direct-seeded upland rice was determined at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad for two consecutive years. The intercropping systems comprised rice alone, rice + maize, rice + sesbania, rice + mungbean and rice + pigeonpea. The rice was seeded in 75cm spaced 4 row strips (15/75 cm) while the intercrops as forage were seeded on the vacant spaces between the rice strips. The rice grain yield was decreased to a significant level by the forage intercrops compared to monocropped rice which varied from 10.94 to 25.87 %, with the maximum (25.87 %) by sesbania followed by pigeon pea (16.67) against the minimum (10.94 %) by maize intercrop. In terms of total rice grain yield equivalent (TRGYE), the highest TRGYE (6.45 tha) was recorded for rice + forage maize intercropping system followed by rice + cowpea (5.08 t ha ) and rice + sesbania (4.92 t ha) against the minimum (4.02 tha ) for monocropped rice clearly indicating yield advantages of intercropping over monocropping of rice. By contrast, the grain quality of rice was not affected significantly by different intercrops.
In a field study, the performance of mashbean in a sesame-mash intercropping system under different geometric arrangements was evaluated on a sandy-clay loam soil at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad for two consecutive years. The planting pattern comprised 40 cm spaced single rows, 60 cm spaced 2-row strips and 100 cm spaced 4-row strips while mashbean was intercropped in all the three planting patterns and also grown as sole crop. The results revealed that planting sesame in the pattern of 100 cm spaced 4-row strips explored the possibility of intercropping mashbean in sesame by producing significantly maximum seed yield of mashbean (703.10 kg ha-1 ) and base crop i.e. sesame (687.40 kg ha-1) as compared to 40 cm spaced single rows and 60 cm spaced 2-row strips planting patterns. Besides, the intercropping sesame with mashbean in pattern of 100 cm spaced 4-row strips appeared to be feasible, convenient and gave maximum net profit (Rs.21242 ha-1) as compared to other two planting patterns and monocropped sesame.
A field study to assess the yield advantage, competitiveness and economics of diversified direct-seeded upland rice-based intercropping systems under strip geometry of planting, was conducted on a sandy-clay loam soil at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The intercropping treatments comprised rice alone, rice + maize, rice + sesbania, rice + mungbean, rice + rice bean, rice + cowpea and rice + pigeon pea. All the intercrops were grown as forage and harvested 45 days after sowing while the rice crop was harvested at its physiological maturity as a grain crop. The results revealed that all intercropping systems gave substantially higher yield advantages over monocropped rice in terms of total rice grain yield equivalent (16.42 to 37.67%) and land equivalent ratio (25 to 75%) and area time equivalent ratio (8 to 23%) with the maximum for rice + maize intercropping system. Similarly considerable economic benefits were achieved from the intercropped rice over monocropped rice with the highest from rice + maize (Rs.42325 ha) followed by rice + cowpea (Rs.30885 ha) and rice + rice bean (Rs.29625 ha) compared to the minimum (Rs.26526 ha) from sole crop of rice. The component crops in each intercropping system did not compete equally. All the intercrops indicated dominant behaviour over the base rice crop. Pigeon pea and cowpea were the least competitive intercrops while maize and sesbania appeared to be better competitive when grown in association with rice crop.
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