Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
Vaishnavi HN, Soumya TM, Kumar O, Dhananjaya BC and Rajashekarappa K

Abstract:
A field experiment on feasibility of crop intensification through inter-cropping of legumes in FCV tobacco was carried out at All India Network Project on Tobacco, Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station (ZAHRS), Navile, Shivamogga during kharif of 2021. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with eleven treatments involving five legumes viz., green gram, black gram, cowpea, field bean and groundnut as intercrops with FCV tobacco in alternate rows and their sole crops for comparison. Experiment was replicated four times. The results revealed that, FCV tobacco + Groundnut recorded significantly higher plant height at harvest (84.6 cm), number of leaves per plant before first picking (16.7), leaf area of X and L position leaves (992.5 and 722.1 cm², respectively), cumulative number of leaves harvested per plant (22.2) and cured leaf yield (1771 kg ha^-1) of FCV tobacco as compared to sole FCV tobacco. The yield was 13.9 percent higher as compared to sole FCV tobacco. Also, the higher values of intercrop indices were observed in FCV tobacco + Groundnut with 2124 kg ha^-1 tobacco equivalent yield, 1.62 land equivalent ratio and ₹ 1,47,472 monetary advantage index there by achieved higher B: C (2.36) compared to sole FCV tobacco. However, highest area time equivalent ratio (1.51) was observed in FCV tobacco + Black gram followed by FCV tobacco + Green gram (1.47) and FCV tobacco + Groundnut (1.43).