Field experiments were conducted in Haryana, India, on sandy loam soil to investigate the suitability of various cropping systems under irrigated conditions in an semi-arid environment. Thirteen kharif-rabi-summer cropping systems were tested and recommended rates of NPK fertilizers were applied to each crop. Among the cropping systems, pearl millet-potato-tomato, pearl millet-potato-green gram, cotton-wheat and soyabean-wheat-fodder cowpea produced yields of 13 948, 10 374, 8965 and 8316 kg/ha, respectively, on an equivalent basis. The lowest yield (6065 kg/ha) was obtained in the pearl millet-Indian mustard system. The maximum net return of Rs. 42 462/ha, benefit:cost ratio of 2.43, system productivity of 42.26 kg/ha per day, land use efficiency of 90.41% and total energy of 48 521 Cal * 100 calories were obtained from the pearl millet-potato-tomato system. The maximum stability indices of 0.98, 0.96 and 0.79 for kharif, rabi and summer seasons, respectively, were obtained in the pearl millet-mustard and pearl millet-mustard-fodder maize systems. The maximum system index of 0.90 was obtained in the fodder sorghum-wheat system followed by soyabean-wheat-fodder cowpea with 0.83. Pearl millet-potato-greengram showed the maximum risk of Rs. 10 915/ha, while the lowest risk of Rs. 3847/ha was obtained in the pigeon pea-wheat system.
