Finger millet (Eleusine coracana)groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) strip cropping for enhanced productivity and resource conservation in uplands of Eastern Ghats of Odisha

A field experiment was carried out during the rainy seasons (JulyOctober) of 2011, 2012 and 2013 at Koraput, Odisha, to access the performance of finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)-based strip crop combinations in ratios 6:4, 8:4, 10:4 and 12:4. The experiment was laid out in 3 rep- lications on 2% slope in a randomized complete-block design. Among the tested ratios, strip cropping of 6 rows of finger millet with 4 rows of groundnut steadily gave higher finger millet equivalent yield to the tune of 57, 44 and 59% than sole finger millet in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. Sole finger millet cultivation recorded the mini- mum production efficiency of 12.3 kg/ha/day, whereas finger millet + groundnut strip cropping showed a mean im- provement of 17%. The maximum net returns of 22,183/ha accrued from planting 6:4 ratio which was nearly double the net returns from sole finger millet cultivation and the ratio also registered the highest benefit: cost ratio (2.87). The superiority of strip ratio 6:4 was also reflected in the monetary advantage index and income-equivalent ratio, registering the maximum values of 6166 and 1.62 respectively. Pooled data of 3 years indicate that runoff conservation potential of finger millet + groundnut strip ratios 6:4, 8:4, 10:4 and 12:4 was 22.4, 11.9, 10.6 and 8.7%, respectively, compared to sole finger millet. On an average, 6:4 ratio gave the lowest values of soil loss (3.02 t/ha) and conserved soil loss by 18.1, 19.6 and 17.4% in 8:4, 10:4 and 12:4 ratios respectively. Sole ground- nut arrested the maximum organic carbon loss, i.e. 44.6 t/ha, followed by 6:4 ratio (55.8 t/ha) which also recorded higher values for other nutrients conservation. Water productivity of different strip ratios specified the advantage in 6:4 systems, registering maximum values of 4.28 kg/mm. Maximum value of land-equivalent ratio (1.38) was cal- culated in 6:4 ratio, indicating 38% area advantage over sole cropping. All the strip cropping systems were advan- tageous than sole planting systems because the product of relative crowding coefficient (K) of main and intercrops was more than 1. Maximum values of K and K , (7.84 and 1.34) were obtained from 6:4 and 8:4 strip ratios, re- FM GN spectively, directing greater advantage with higher values of product of K (10.15).