Assessments of the Effects of Legume Species Intercropping on Radiation Use Efficiency of Sorghum
S. Divya Dharshini *
Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
SP. Ramanathan
Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
S. Kokilavani
Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A field experiment was executed to assess the effect of legume species intercropping on the Radiation use efficiency of Sorghum during summer 2021. In India, Sorghum is primarily raised for poultry and animal feed and it is being cultivated under poor resource conditions. Hence, intercropping sorghum with legumes can help in improving the resource use efficiency than sole sorghum and also enable farmers to boost their livelihood. The treatments were T1-Sorghum Sole crop (SS), T2-2rows of Sorghum+2rows of Cowpea (2S:2C), T3-2rows of Sorghum+1row of Cowpea (2S:1C), T4-2rows of Sorghum+2rows of Greengram (2S:2G), T5-2rows of Sorghum+1rows of Greengram (2S:1G), T6-2rows of Sorghum+2rows of Lablab (2S:2L), T7-2rows of Sorghum+1rows of Lablab (2S:1L). An experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Design and was replicated thrice. The results were statistically analysed using SPSS software. The results revealed that Sorghum + Lablab in 2:1 registered the highest leaf area index, dry matter production which ultimately resulted in high Radiation Use Efficiency. Overall, the intercropping system had high RUE than sole Sorghum. Thus it was concluded that planting sorghum with a legume in a 2:1 pattern would be recommended as it has better resource use efficiency than sole sorghum.
Keywords: Sorghum, dry matter production, radiation use efficiency, intercepted PAR, intercropping system