Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted to study the growth and productivity of
pigeonpea + radish intercropping system under different nutrient management
practices for two consecutive years during kharif seasons of 2013 and 2014 at
Instructional Farm, RRTTS, Gumusur Udayagiri, OUAT, Kandhamal, Odisha, India.
The treatments were Pigeonpea (100% RDF)+Radish (100% RDF), Pigeonpea
(100% RDF)+Radish (75% RDF), Pigeonpea (100% RDF)+Radish (50% RDF),
Pigeonpea (100% RDF)+Radish (25% RDF), Pigeonpea (100% RDF)+Radish (0%
RDF ), Pigeonpea (75% RDF)+Radish (100% RDF), Pigeonpea (50% RDF)+Radish
(100% RDF ), Pigeonpea (25% RDF)+Radish (100% RDF), Pigeonpea (0%
RDF)+Radish (100% RDF), Pigeonpea (0% RDF)+Radish (0% RDF) as control, sole
Pigeonpea (100% RDF) and Sole Radish (100% RDF). The twelve treatments
were replicated thrice in a randomized block design. Among the intercropping
systems, the treatment 100% RDF was applied to the base crop (pigeonpea) and
100% RDF to the intercrop (radish) almost all the growth parameters as well as
yield components showed highest values. Sole crop of pigeonpea with 100% RDF
produced the highest seed yield (1.20 t ha-1) and stover yield (4.56 t ha-1). Sole
radish crop with 100% RDF achieved the highest root yield (17.70 t ha-1) and leaf
yield (4.02 t ha-1) over other treatments followed by pigeonpea + radish with 100%
RDF to base crop+100% RDF to intercrop. Sole radish exhibited the highest net
return (` 73773 ha-1) and return rupee-1 investment (3.28) with 100% RDF though
the highest gross return (` 125890 ha-1) was obtained from pigeonpea +radish
intercropping system with 100% RDF to both the crops.
