Climate Resilient Intercropping Systems for Rainfed Red Soils of Karnataka

In rainfed and dry regions of southern Karnataka, sole cropping is not much remunerative in the present scenario of climate change in agriculture to fulfill the diverse demands of consumers and burgeoning population. Hence, studies on intercropping systems were conducted in Alanatha cluster of villages in Ramanagara district and Chikkamaranahalli cluster in Bengaluru Rural district from 2010 to 2014 as a part of Operational Research Project (ORP) and National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). In both the locations, finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) + pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) (8:2) with moisture conservation furrow between paired rows of pigeonpea intercropping recorded higher yield and economics as compared to the farmers’ practices of growing finger millet with akkadi crops. In groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) based cropping, groundnut+ pigeonpea (8:2) intercropping with moisture conservation furrow between paired rows of pigeonpea proved to be the better climate resilient intercropping system with higher yields in red soils of southern Karnataka. Under pulse based cropping systems, pigeonpea + cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) and pigeonpea + field bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were remunerative when grown in additive series compared to sole crop of pigeonpea.