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Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(7): 2729-2732 International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 2729-2732 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.607.382 Relay Cropping of Castor in Legume Crops A.S. Bhanvadia*, K.J. Vekariya and R.A. Patel Regional Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand-388 110 (Gujarat), India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Keywords Castor, Greengram, Soybean and Relay cropping. Article Info Accepted: 29 June 2017 Available Online: 10 July 2017 A field experiment was conducted on sandy loamy soils during kharif seasons of 2013-14 to 2015-16 at Regional Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand to study the effect of legume-castor relay cropping system on growth and yield of castor as well as castor equivalent yield (CEY). Among the different relay cropping system evaluated, treatment Castor (sole) recorded maximum seed yield in all the years and in pooled results. This treatment also exhibited higher values of different growth and yield attributes. Significantly higher CEY is recorded by treatment Soybean + Castor (Timely) in all the years and in pooled results except in second year where it was at par with treatment Greengram + Castor (timely). Introduction Castor is an important commercial non-edible oilseed crop, which fetches sizable amount of foreign exchange in the country through export. It is a late kharif crop, suitable for contingent crop planning in the rainfed area. However, for intensive cropping in irrigated area, this crop offers a good scope to introduce short duration and quick growing legumes before Castor to get the benefit of vacant field in Kharif season. In order to reduce the soil degradation and enhance the ecosystem sustainability, various strategies such as use of cover crops and buffer strips (Adimassu et al., 2014), no-till or minimum tillage practices (Shah et al., 2016), organic amendments like biochar (Weyers, 2014) and mulching (prosdocimi et al., 2016) are reported elsewhere. Relay cropping is one of most reliable and applicable practices including a complex suite of different resource-efficient technologies. Through relay cropping land and other resources can be exploited more efficiently. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate suitability of castor for relay cropping in kharif legume crops. Materials and Methods Present investigation was conducted at Regional Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand during 201314 to 2015-16 (kharif). The soil of experimental site is sandy loamy, neutral in reaction (7.84), low in organic carbon (0.46%) and high in phosphorus (73.13 kg ha-1) and potassium (340 kg ha-1). It consisting of six 2729 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(7): 2729-2732 treatments viz.,T1: Greengram (sowing in first fortnight of July) + Castor (Sowing in last week of August), T2: Soybean (sowing in first fortnight of July) + Castor (Sowing in last week of August), T3: Soybean (sowing in first fortnight of July) + Castor (Sowing in last week of September), T4: Sole Greengram (sowing in first fortnight of July), T5: Sole soybean (sowing in first fortnight of July) and T6: Sole castor (Sowing in last week of August) and were laid out in randomized complete block design with four replication. The castor was sown with spacing of 135 x 60 cm in Soybean sown at 45 cm apart while 120 x60 cm in Greengram sown at 30 cm apart. Castor, Greengram and Soybean were fertilized with 75, 20 and 30 N2 kg ha-1 and 50, 40 and 60 P2O5 kg ha-1, respectively. Inter-cultivations and weeding were done to keep the weed under check. Need-based plant protection measure was followed to manage sucking insects. Results and Discussion The experiment of relay cropping of castor in legume crops was conducted during the year 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (Table 1). The results of the experiment revealed that CEY was significantly influenced by different relay cropping treatments. Treatment T2: Soybean + Castor (Timely) recorded significantly the highest CEY (4617, 4815 and 4456 kg ha-1) during all the year. However, it was at par with treatment T1: Greengram + Castor in second year. The pooled results presented in table 1, showed that relay cropping treatments significantly influenced CEY. Significantly the highest value of CEY (4629 kg ha-1) was recorded under treatment T2: Soybean + Castor (Timely). It was 27.74 per cent higher than CEY of treatment T6: castor sole. The LER of different treatments are given in table 1. Results revealed that treatment T2: Soybean + Castor (Timely) recorded maximum values of LER (1.50) followed by treatment T1: Greengram + Castor (Timely) and T3: Soybean + Castor (Late). These treatment recorded LER of 1.34 and 1.18 respectively. Such increase in LER was also reported by Akram et al., (2004), Dua et al., (2007) and Zhang et al., (2007) for different relay cropping system. Table.1 Castor Equivalent Yield influenced by different relay cropping treatments Treatment Greengram + Castor T1 (Timely) T2 Soybean + Castor (Timely) T3 Soybean + Castor (Late) T4 Greengram T5 Soybean T6 Castor S. Em. ± C. D. (P=0.05) C. V. % Castor Equivalent Yield (kg ha-1) 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 Pooled LER 3882 4294 3179 3785 1.35 4617 3887 1914 2445 3838 233 701 13.57 4815 3931 2469 3070 3891 274 827 14.65 4456 2589 2290 1879 3143 156 470 10.68 4629 3469 2224 2464 3624 142.2 402 13.45 C. D. (P=0.05) NS NS 1.50 1.08 1.00 1.00 1.00 S. Em. ± 92.4 226.4 Y Y×T 2730 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(7): 2729-2732 Table.2 Year wise seed yield of castor as influenced by relay cropping treatments Treatment T1 T2 T3 T6 Greengram + Castor (Timely) Soybean + Castor (Timely) Soybean + Castor (Late) Castor Castor Seed yield (kg ha-1) 2014-15 2015-16 2508 1650 2910 3083 2074 1274 3891 3143 2013-14 2154 2799 1963 3838 Mean 2104 2931 1771 3624 Table.3 Effect of relay cropping treatments on growth and Yield attributes of castor (mean of 3 years) Treatment T1 T2 T3 T6 Greengram + Castor (Timely) Soybean + Castor (Timely) Soybean + Castor (Late) Castor Plant height (cm) 163 164 147 170 No. of effective branches plant-1 8.92 9.87 8.45 10.17 Days to 50% flowering Length of primary spike (cm) Days to first picking Test weight (g) Oil content (%) 49.75 50.58 49.00 52.58 65.88 68.88 63.85 69.54 122 123 121 125 29.48 29.93 28.38 30.87 45.24 46.17 43.52 46.73 The results of seed yield of castor are presented in table 2 indicated that, treatment T6: Castor sole recorded maximum mean values of seed yield (3624 kg ha-1). sown in first fortnight of July and last fortnight of August, respectively. One row will be skipped for castor sowing after two rows of soybean. However, such loss of Castor yield in system was compensated later with the additional yield advantage from Soybean and Greengram. This is in confirmation with results of Nazir (1992). Acknowledgements The results presented in table 3, showed that T6: Castor sole recorded maximum values of growth and yield attributing characters i.e. plant height (170 cm), No. of effective branches per plant (10.17), days to 50% flowering (52.58), length of primary spike (69.54 cm), days to first picking (125), test weight (30.87) and oil content in seed (46.73 per cent) followed by treatment T2: Soybean + Castor (Timely), T1: Greengram + Castor (Timely) and T3: Soybean + Castor. From the three years of results of experiment, it can be concluded that soybean-castor relay cropping system can be adopted for getting higher CEY. In which soybean and castor is Authors are thankful to the Anand Agricultural University, Anand for providing facilities and fund during the course of investigation. References Adimassu, Z., Mekonnen, K. Yirga, C. and Kessler, A. (2004). Effect of soil bunds on runoff, soil and nutrient losses and crop yield in central highland of Ethiopia. Land Degradation & Development. 25:554-564. Akram, H. M., Iqbal, M. S., Nadeem, M. A., Ali, A., Saeed, M., Allah, Y. and Sahi, K. A. (2004). Feasibility of relay cropping berseem with autumn planted sunflower. International Journal of Agirculture and Biology. 5: 281-283. Dua, V. K., Govindakrishnan, P. M. and Lal, 2731 Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(7): 2729-2732 S. S. (2007). Evaluation of wheat-potato relay intercropping system in the mid hills of Shimla. Indian Journal of Agricultural Research. 41:142-145. Nazir, S. (1992). Feasibility and mode of interaction of different gram inter-relay cropping system. 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Relay Cropping of Castor in Legume Crops. Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci. 6(7): 2729-2732. doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.607.382 2732