Vol. 11, Special Issue 2 (2022)

Author(s):
Rajashree, BM Dodamani, PS Rathod, DH Patil and A Amaregouda

Abstract:
Pigeonpea is the major crop of northern parts of Karnataka. Most of the farmers depend on the pigeopea for their livelihood. But now a days fodder shortage has become the major problem of pigeonpea growing area. There is a huge gap between the fodder demand and fodder supply. There is a need to grow fodder crops without affecting the yield of pgeonpea. Hence, improving cropping system can be a probable solution. Pigeonpea being a long duration crop offers ample opportunity for intercropping system. Hence, One should opt for good intercrop which doesn’t affect the growth and yield of the main crop i.e., pigeonpea. The grain yield of pigeonpea depends on its growth parameters such as plant height, number of primary branches, number secondary branches per plant, leaf area and leaf area index. Which depict the yield potential of the crop. Hence, for finding out the most suitable fodder crop for intercropping with pigeonpea, A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different fodder crops on growth parameters of pigeonpea under intercropping system. There were 13 treatments replicated thrice and Randomised Complete Block Design was followed for statistical analysis. Different fodder crops such as fodder sorghum, fodder maize, fodder bajra, fodder cowpea, fodder horsegram and fodder fieldbean were intercropped with pigeonpea at 1:2 row proportions. All the growth parameters of pigeonpea were significantly influenced by intercropping system with different fodder crops. Sole pigeonpea recorded highest values of plant height, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, leaf area and leaf area index at 45 DAS, 90 DAS, 135 DAS and at harvest. However, it was on par with the treatment where pigeonpea was intercropped with fodder horsegram at 1:2 row proportion. Whereas the treatments where pigeonpea was intercropped with fodder cereals recorded lower values of all the growth parameters.