Effect of Cereal-Legume Intercropping, Tillage Configuration and Residue Intensity on Resource use Efficiency and Productivity

Author: Akshay Kumar Yogi, Deepak Kumar Meena, Rakesh Dawar and Basta Ram Choudhary

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Abstract

Agriculture faces challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, and soil degradation, leading to low crop yields and exacerbating poverty and food insecurity. Rainfed ecologies face the multivariate challenges of climate change and resource deficit. Additionally, factor productivity and yield tend to decline with time-lapse. To address these challenges and improve sustainable food security, efficient technologies for intensifying crop production are an urgent necessity. Present study was planned to investigate the challenges of monoculture problems throughout the Indo Gangetic plains region. Further reduce soil fertility and nutrient status due to intensive tillage and cereal based monoculture require modification for an effective cropping system. This study investigated the effects of different tillage configurations, residue retention levels, and row ratios on the growth, yield, and economic benefits of intercropped cowpea and cluster bean with pearl millet. SPAD Value, intercropping indices were calculated. Data analysis was performed using SAS 9.1 software and R studio software version 4.02. The results show that reduced evapotranspiration of intercropped crops results in better water use efficiency, and high land equivalent ratio. The study highlights the importance of improving water and radiation use for better performance of intercropping systems. Treatment with Zero tillage with 4-ton residue ha-1 resulted into higher productivity and resources use efficiency in term of yield, crop growth and land use efficiency. This study provide the significant positive effect of zero tillage (soil health, climate resilience) and legume intensification (sustainability with productivity) over conventional practices.

Keywords

Intercropping, Legume intensification, Resource use efficiency, Zero tillage

Conclusion

Agriculture plays a crucial role in global food security but faces challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, and soil degradation, which can lead to low crop yields and exacerbate poverty and food insecurity. To address these challenges and improve sustainable food security, efficient technologies for intensifying crop production in a sustainable manner are needed. This study investigated the effects of different tillage configurations, residue retention levels, and row ratios on the growth, yield, and economic benefits of intercropped pearl millet-cowpea and millet-cluster bean crops. The results showed that intercropping led to reduced evapotranspiration and better water use efficiency. High land equivalent ratio (LER) indicated better utilization of water and radiation by the intercropped stands. Yield reductions were attributed to competition for nutrients, light, and moisture, with cowpea being more affected than the cereal crop. Treatment 4, with zero tillage and 60% residue retention, showed the best performance in terms of growth parameters and yield attributes. These findings suggest that intercropping can improve water and radiation use efficiency, but careful management is needed to minimize competition and maximize yield benefits.

References

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How to cite this article

Akshay Kumar Yogi, Deepak Kumar Meena, Rakesh Dawar and Basta Ram Choudhary (2023). Effect of Cereal-Legume Intercropping, Tillage Configuration and Residue Intensity on Resource use Efficiency and Productivity. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(2): 887-893.