• Authors:
    • Chikte, P.
    • Bhalkare, S. K.
    • Thakare, S. M.
    • Lande, G. K.
  • Source: Journal Of Cotton Research And Development
  • Volume: 22
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2008
  • Summary: The experiment was conducted during the kharif season of 2004-05 at Dr. PDKV, Akola to evaluate the effect of different possible intercrops on bollworm complex on cotton crop. The intercrops viz., cotton+greengram, cotton+blackgram, cotton+cowpea, cotton+sorghum, cotton+maize, cotton+marigold, cotton+soybean in 1:1 ratio alongwith a treatment of sole cotton crop were sown. The intercrop cotton+cowpea proved to be the best recording least population of spotted bollworm, American bollworm and pink bollworm as against the treatment of sole cotton crop. The highest seed cotton yield of 251 kg/ha was recorded in cotton+cowpea-intercropping system as against 160 kg/ha recorded in the sole cotton crop.
  • Authors:
    • Carbonell, R.
    • Perea, F.
    • González, P.
    • Rodríguez-Lizana, A.
    • Ordóñez-Fernández, R.
  • Source: Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems
  • Volume: 79
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: With the aim of assessing the benefits of crop remains left on the soil surface, a study was carried out on the decomposition and characteristics of residue deposited on a clay soil in southern Spain during the agricultural seasons of 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04, in which a legume-cereal-sunflower rotation was followed. Each of the residues studied possessed a characteristic justifying its inclusion in the rotation. The legume residue (Pisum sativum L. cv. Ideal) supplied the highest amount of nitrogen to the soil since, throughout its decomposition cycle, it lost 76.6% of its initial content in nitrogen, compared to the 48 and 56% of N released by wheat residues (Triticum durum L. cv. Amilcar) and sunflower (Helianthus annus L. cv. Sanbro), respectively. At the beginning of its decomposition cycle, the wheat residue had the lowest mass, and gave the most cover, with values of 65%, which was 8.6 and 20.2% more than the cover estimated for the pea and sunflower residues, respectively. The sunflower residue lasted longest, only losing 18% of its initial cover over 109 days of decomposition, compared to 47% for wheat and 53% for pea. The amount of carbon released was similar for the three residues and was around 500 kg ha(-1). The straw decomposition rates under our conditions indicate that the residue of the most common crops in the area under dry farming makes protection possible during the intercrop period.
  • Authors:
    • Moraes, A.
    • Balbinot Junior, A.
    • Backes, R.
  • Source: PLANTA DANINHA
  • Volume: 25
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: Straw on the soil significantly reduces weed infestation under no-tillage system. The potential of winter cover crops and their management timing in reducing weed infestation in maize crop were studied in Canoinhas, Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2003/04 and 2004/05. In the first experiment, 6 winter cover crops were investigated: oilseed radish, black oat [ Avena nuda], rye, ryegrass [ Lolium sp.], intercropped among black oat and common vetch [ Vicia sativa] and among oilseed radish, black oat, rye, ryegrass and common vetch. These cover crops were slashed down at three different times before maize sowing (1, 10 and 25 days). In the second experiment, the potential to reduce weed infestation was investigated in the 6 cover crops previously mentioned, plus the common vetch. The straw of ryegrass and from intercropping among the 5 species used had a high capacity to suppress weed emergence and dry matter production, while oilseed radish straw showed low weed suppression potential. The winter cover crops slashed down next to maize sowing decreased the weed infestation.
  • Authors:
    • Backes, R.
    • Moraes, A.
    • Balbinot Junior, A.
    • Souza, A.
  • Source: Scientia Agraria
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: A study was undertaken in Canoinhas, Santa Catarina, Brazil, during 2004/05 season to evaluate the effect of cover crop desiccation time in relation to maize sowing on the weed infestation and maize yield. Ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum) as a single crop and in an intercropping system (rye grass+black oat ( Avena strigosa [ A. nuda])+rye+common vetch ( Vicia sativa)+oilseed radish) were desiccated 5 times at 1, 10 20 and 30 days before maize sowing. Cover crop management near maize sowing decreased the density and mass accumulation of weeds and improved the maize grain yield.
  • Authors:
    • Chauhan, S. K.
    • Baljit, S.
    • Saralch, H. S.
  • Source: Agroforestry: systems and practices
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: Punjab is the richest state in the country in term of per capita income and has earned the name as food bowl of the country by putting 84-85 per cent of its geographical area under highly intensive, technical and mechanical agriculture with cropping intensity as high as 185 per cent and contributing more than one third of rice and half of its wheat production to the central pool of food reserve. The food grain production in the state has increased approximately twelve times in a span of about 50 years after independence from 20 lac tones in 1950-51 to 234.89 lakh tonnes in 2002-2003. Achieving this high productivity without caring for natural resources has resulted in a considerable loss in the inherent production potential and deterioration of soil health. As a result, man is getting serious warning signals in the form of lowering of water table, drought, high rate of environmental pollution, extremes of climatic parameters, etc. Agriculture in the state has become too intensive, wasteful and reckless and the radical changes are required to maintain the balance. Therefore, there is a strong thinking to diversify farming in the state to maintain the sustainability of the whole system. The state government is stressing hard to save the natural resources through the diversification in traditional crop rotation and adopt resource-conserving measures. With the introduction of fast growing multipurpose tree species in Punjab during sixties, agroforestry has been recognized as a sustainable system of high potential to boost the state's meager forest resources and to check the further degradation of natural resources. Highly productive block planting of poplar intercropped with wheat, sugarcane, turmeric, oats, berseem, mustard, medicinal plants, seasonal flowers, vegetables, etc. has become popular in irrigated tracts of the state. Boundary planting of eucalypts in the wheat- paddy cropping system and scattered trees of kikar, khair, shisham, dek, etc. on cultivated lands under rainfed conditions, especially in the sub-montane foot hill zone, play an important role in soil conservation and boosting the socio-economic status of the farmers. These tree species have inherent potential of increasing the productivity of problematic lands of the state. Therefore, the diversion of farmlands towards agroforestry will not only increase tree cover but also achieve the desired objective of National Forest Policy-1988 and conserve the precious natural resources like ground water, soil, biodiversity, etc. and prove to be a viable alternative sustainable land use system, which is renewable and eco-friendly as compared to sole agricultural crops in the years to come. The profitability of tree plantations on farmers' fields will further improve with the implementation of trading of carbon credits under Kyoto Protocol.
  • Authors:
    • Rambo, L.
    • Strieder, M.
    • Argenta, G.
    • Suhre, E.
    • Silva, P.
    • Silva, A.
  • Source: Ciencia Rural
  • Volume: 37
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: The black oats use ( Avena strigosa) as species of soil covering in the winter, cause immobilization of the nitrogen (N), that reduces the plant development and grain yield of maize cultivated in succession. Thus, the black oat intercropped systems with leguminous as common vetch ( Vicia sativa) and brassicas as oilseed radish ( Raphanus sativus) is aimed at increasing nitrogen (N) disponibility in the system and the permanence timing of its residues in the soil. Two experiments were carried out in the growth seasons of 2001/2002 and 2002/2003, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The first one was aimed at evaluating the effect of three winter species of soil covering, grown as a single culture and as intercropped crops on maize grain yield, with and without nitrogen side-dressed. The second one was aimed at determining the most adequate seed ratio of oilseed radish and black oat in intercropped systems, as soil covering crops in the winter preceding maize, under different nitrogen levels side-dressed. In Experiment I, treatments were composed by N application of 180 kg ha -1, a control without N side-dressed and seven winter soil covering systems. In the Experiment II, treatments consisted of two levels of N side-dressing application in maize, a control without N side-dressed, and of three seed ratio of oilseed radish and black oat, as single and as intercropped crops and a control without crop in the winter. In all intercropped systems, independently of seed ratio used, the oilseed radish was mostly responsible for the yield of dry mass of the systems. The intercropped systems of common vetch or oilseed radish with black oat minimize the negative effect of oat on maize grain yield cultivated in succession in systems with low N availability and, even with high N supply, maize grain yield also increases when grown after common vetch.
  • Authors:
    • Bandyopadhyay, K. K.
    • Wanjari, R. H.
    • Manna, M. C.
    • Misra, A. K.
    • Mohanty, M.
    • Rao, A. S.
    • Ghosh, P. K.
  • Source: Journal of Sustainable Agriculture
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: This article deals with the beneficial effect of important legumes on increasing productivity and nutrient use efficiency in various systems. Sorghum, pearl millet, maize, and castor are mainstay in dry lands and marginal and sub-marginal lands. Sorghum yield increased when sown after cowpea, green gram, and groundnut. Grain legumes like groundnut or cowpea provide an equivalent to 60 kg N ha on the subsequent crop of pearl millet. Various studies have shown that among legume/cereal intercropping system, the combination of maize/pigeon pea is considered to be highly suitable with a minimum competition for nutrients, while legume/legume intercropping system, pigeon pea/groundnut system is the most efficient one in terms of resource use-efficiency. In alley cropping system, Leucaena leucocephala (Subabul) prunings provide N to the extent of 75 kg, which benefits the intercrop castor and sorghum. Nitrogen economy through intercropped legume is still a researchable issue because the key point for leguminous crop grown in intercropping system is the problem of nodulation. Incorporation of whole plant of summer green gram/black gram into soil (after picking pods) before transplanting rice resulted in the economizing (40-60 kg N ha -1, 30 kg P 2O 5, and 15 kg K 2O per ha) of rice in rice-wheat system. Similarly, 6-8 weeks old green manure crop of sunhemp or dhaincha accumulates approximately 3-4 t ha -1 dry matter and 100-120 kg N ha -1 which, when incorporated in situ, supplements up to 50% of the total N requirement of rice. Legumes with indeterminate growth are more efficient in N 2 fixation than determinate types. Fodder legumes in general are more potent in increasing the productivity of succeeding cereals. The carryover of N for succeeding crops may be 60-120 kg in berseem, 75 kg in Indian clover, 75 kg in cluster bean, 35-60 kg in fodder cowpea, 68 kg in chickpea, 55 kg in black gram, 54-58 kg in groundnut, 50-51 kg in soyabean, 50 kg in Lathyrus, and 36-42 kg per ha in pigeon pea. Direct and residual effect of partially acidulated material and mixture of rock phosphate + single superphosphate were observed to be better when these were applied to green gram in winter season than to rice in rainy season simply because of legume effect.
  • Authors:
    • Myers, L.
    • Sherwood, J.
    • Edelson, J.
    • Damicone, J.
    • Motes, J.
  • Source: Plant Disease
  • Volume: 91
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: In five field trials over 3 years, control of aphid-transmitted, nonpersistent virus diseases on pumpkin, caused mostly by the potyviruses Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) and Papaya ringspot virus type-W (PRSV-W), was achieved by intercropping with grain sorghum, as opposed to clean tillage. Reductions in disease incidence ranged from 43 to 96% ( P≤0.05). Surrounding pumpkin plots with borders of peanut, soybean, or corn was not effective. Borders of grain sorghum were effective, but disease control was generally less than for the intercrop treatment. Intercropping soybean and peanut with pumpkin reduced disease incidence by 27 to 60% ( P≤0.05), but disease control generally was less than for grain sorghum. Peak periods of alate aphid immigration generally preceded virus disease outbreaks by 7 to 14 days. However, alate landing rates, as measured in green tile traps, did not differ among treatments. Marketable yield was not increased by the intercrop treatments, and yield was reduced by up to 50% for the intercrop treatment with grain sorghum in two trials. The use of grass-selective herbicide applied along pumpkin rows, reduced seeding rates of the intercrops, or mowing did not alleviate the adverse effects of competition between pumpkin and the grain sorghum intercrop on yield.
  • Authors:
    • An, M.
    • Cheema, Z. A.
    • Iqbal, J.
  • Source: Plant and Soil
  • Volume: 300
  • Issue: 1/2
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: A 2-year field investigation was carried out during 2003-2004 to determine the effectiveness of intercropping single and double rows of sorghum, soybean and sesame in a cotton crop on the suppression of purple nutsedge ( Cyperus rotundus L.). Results revealed that all three intercrops were effective in inhibiting purple nutsedge density (70-96%) and dry matter production (71-97%) during both years of experimentation. Control in the second year was more effective than in the first year. The seed cotton yield was also depressed by the intercrops but its suppression (8-23%) was far less severe than that of purple nutsedge and its loss was compensated by greater total economic returns. Intercropping of sorghum and sesame produced greater than 20% net benefits (up to 60%) in comparison with the control (cotton alone). Soybean intercropping produced comparable net benefits (95-103%). Sesame two rows intercrop treatment appeared the most profitable with net benefit of 51-59% with good purple nutsedge control (73-92% density suppression, 77-95% dry weight suppression) during both years of experimentation.
  • Authors:
    • Thakare, R.
    • Gupta, V. R.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Agricultural Research
  • Volume: 41
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2007
  • Summary: Effect of irrigated and rainfed cropping systems on carbon and nitrogen mineralization was studied. Maximum C and N mineralization observed under irrigated cropping systems than rainfed. Sorghum-chickpea-groundnut showed highest mineralization under irrigated condition. While monocropping and intercropping with legumes enhances the rate of mineralization under rainfed situation. Mineralization was found to be highest during grand growth period of crops. Application of integrated nutrient supply increased C and N mineralization as compared to their individual application. The FYM+wheat straw+green manuring application augmented the mineralization under soybean-wheat crop sequence.