Vol. 12, Special Issue 8 (2023)

Author(s):
Rajneesh Srivastava, Kamlesh Meena, Ajay Kumar Rai, Shamsher Singh, RP Chaudhary, AK Chaturvedi and Neeraj Singh

Abstract:
There is an urgent need to supply enough food for the world's growing population. A important strategy for increasing labor utilization per available area of land and production is to intensify land use. Intercropping, the practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously in the same area, is a tried-and-true crop management technique that aims to match crop needs to labor and resource availability as effectively as feasible. With a canopy development time of 100–120 days, sugarcane is a long-term crop that enables the growth of intercrops in the early phases. Small sugarcane growers cannot wait a long time to receive a financial return from a single sugarcane harvest, so sugarcane planters take advantage of this by cultivating other short-term crops like cowpea, etc. as intercrops to earn intermediate returns. In the adopted village, ICAR-IIVR-KVK has conducted On Farm Trials (OFT) at a few farmer fields. The following agricultural practices were examined in spring-sown sugarcane at a farmer's field: sugarcane-cowpea intercropping, irrigation planting pattern, sowing methodology, plant geometry, fertilizer dose, intercultural activities, and plant protection strategies. In comparison to the average benefit cost ratio of sloe sugarcane (3.52:1), which was 22.15 percent greater than the solitary sugarcane crop during both study periods, a higher average benefit cost ratio (4.36:1) was seen with sugarcane + cowpea intercropping.