Response of Various Intercrops on Growth and Yield Attributes of Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) under Irrigated Situation

Abstract

Intercropping in cotton is one of the best approachs to improve the food security and soil fertility in addition to that of generating cash income of the rural poor. At present intercropping is common in conventional agriculture to augment the land use and also symbolic in reducing the weeds infestation. But, introducing superfluity population of intercrops without reducing the base crop population is of preeminence. Therefore field experiments were conducted at farmer’s field located at Erode District in Tamil Nadu, India (during 2018-2019) to investigate the compatible, remunerative and best smothering intercrops on the base crop, cotton. The experiment was outlayed in randomized block design with three replications. The treatment encompass of seven treatments viz., Cotton alone (Gossypium hirsutum L.), Cotton + Blackgram (Vigna mungo), Cotton + Greengram (Vigna radiata), Cotton + Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Cotton + Coriander  (Coriandrum sativum), Cotton + Onion (Allium cepa)  and Cotton + Sesame (Sesamum indicum). The study clearly showed that among the treatments Cotton + Cowpea showed superior response in growth attributes like plant height (harvest stage) (153.23 cm), LAI -Leaf Area Index at 70 DAS (6.18), DMP – Dry Matter Production at harvest ( 6788.01 kg per ha) and yield attributes like number of Monopodial branches per plant (3.22), number of Sympodial branches per plant (19.62), number of squares per plant (48.83), number of bolls per plant (32.23), boll weight (3.98 g) and seed cotton yield (2455.70 t ha-1) and next in order was Cotton + Blackgram. The result evidently proved that Cotton + Cowpea will be an appropriate intercropping system for cotton and it was having considerable increase in growth and yield of cotton.