Shade response of common rainfed intercrops of coconut

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during 1980-81 to study the shade response of five common rainfed intercrop of coconut garden.

The experiment was laid out in randomised block design with four levels of shade and five replications.

The study revealed that sweet potato cannot be cultivated under shade as it is a ‘shade –sensitive’ crop,while coleus is suitable only where light infiltration is high. Colocasia, turmeric and ginger were found suitable for intercropped situations. Colocasia appears to be shade – tolerant while ginger and turmeric are indicated as ; shade – loving’. These two shade – loving crops are best suited under shaded situations up to 25 and 50 per cent shade, respectively . Photosynthetic mechanism appears to have a decisive role on the shade response of all these crops expecting sweet potato. Excepting colocasia, plant height (length of vine) in all the crops increased with increasing shade intensities. Number of branches (tillers) in all the crops significantly decreased with increasing intensities of shade. The content of total chlorophyll and its components were significantly influenced by shading in all the crop.

The contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in all the plant components of all crops increased because of shading. The uptake of all the nutrients followed an identical pattern as that of dry matter accumulation in all the crops.