Performance of fruit trees (drip irrigation) and intercrops (rainfed) under agri-horti system in arid Western Rajasthan.
Keywords:
Agri-horti system, drip irrigation, intercropping, Western RajasthanAbstract
Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia), cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), and sonamukhi (Cassia angustifolia) were grown as intercrops under an agri-horti-silvi system with 7-year-old plantations of citrus (Citrus aurantifolia), bael (Aegle marmelos), and gonda (Cordia myxa) at the research farm of Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Bikaner, during two consecutive years of 2008 and 2009. The highest seed and stover yield of moth bean (460 & 1881 kg/ha in 2008 and 320 & 1304 kg/ha in 2009) and cluster bean (623 & 2146 kg/ha in 2008 and 533 & 1838 kg/ha in 2009) as well as the leaf and seed yield of sonamukhi (323 & 53 kg/ha in 2008 and 415 & 80 kg/ha in 2009) was recorded in intercropping with citrus. Among the different levels of irrigation applied to fruit trees, irrigation at 80% of potential crop evapotranspiration (ETc) gave the highest yield and water use efficiency in all the crops, while the lowest was recorded at 40% ETc. It was also observed that cluster bean intercropped with citrus recorded the highest water use efficiency (WUE) (3.76 kg/ha/mm).Downloads
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