Intercropping vegetables in baby corn (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

The study entitled “Intercropping vegetables in baby corn (Zea mays L.)’’ was conducted at College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram during 2018-20 to investigate the feasibility of intercropping vegetables (cowpea and amaranthus) in baby corn and to find the effect of crop geometry on growth, yield, productivity and economics of intercropping systems. The field experiment was conducted during March to May 2019 and was laid out in Randomized Block Design with 3 replications. Baby corn (var. G 5414) was raised as main crop and cowpea (var. Bhagyalakshmi) and amaranthus (var. Arun) were raised as intercrops in various cropping geometries. The treatments consisted of different planting geometries of baby corn with cowpea and amaranthus as intercrops along with sole crop treatments, viz., T1- baby corn + cowpea (skip row), T2- baby corn + amaranthus (skip row), T3- baby corn + cowpea (paired row), T4- baby corn + amaranthus (paired row), T5- baby corn + cowpea (2:1 ratio), T6- baby corn + amaranthus (2:1 ratio), T7- sole crop of baby corn, T8- sole crop of cowpea and T9- sole crop of amaranthus. The results indicated that intercropping cowpea or amaranthus in baby corn had significant influence on the growth and yield of both main crop and intercrops. The cob yield with husk (11.39 t ha-1), marketable cob yield (3.53 t ha-1) and cob weight with husk (49.50 g) of baby corn were found to be significantly higher in T3 compared to other treatments including sole crop of baby corn. The number of cobs per plant recorded was the highest in T1 which did not differ from T2. Cob-to corn ratio of baby corn was significantly lower in treatments T4 and T3. The highest dry matter production (24453 kg ha-1) and green stover yield (39.33 t ha-1) of baby corn were recorded in T3 which was on par with T7. 148 Growth and yield of intercrops were significantly reduced under intercropping. Sole crop of cowpea (T8) produced higher number of primary branches, LAI, total dry matter production, root volume, root depth, number of pods per plant, pod yield per plant and pod yield per ha compared to intercropping systems. Sole crop of amaranthus (T9) also produced significantly higher LAI, total dry matter production, yield per plant and yield per ha when compared to intercropping systems. The light interception by the crop canopy of baby corn was found to be the highest in T3. Higher uptake of N, P and K were recorded in intercropping treatment T3 (growing baby corn and cowpea in paired row). The sole cropping of intercrops however resulted in the highest N, P and K uptake compared to the intercropping. Analysis of competitive indices of intercropping system revealed that the land equivalent ratio (LER), baby corn equivalent yield (BEY) and monetary advantage index (MAI) were the highest in T3. The positive aggressivity value (Abv) and higher relative crowding coefficient of baby corn (Kb) indicated the competitive nature and dominance of baby corn over intercrops. The paired row planting of baby corn with cowpea (T3) produced the highest net returns (₹ 222830 ha-1) and benefit: cost ratio (3.18). The results of the study indicated that compared to amaranthus, vegetable cowpea was more suitable for intercropping with baby corn. Paired row planting of baby corn with cowpea (T3) was found to be the best intercropping system considering the planting geometry in terms of baby corn equivalent yield, monetary advantage index, net income and benefit: cost ratio.