Effect of planting pattern and sowing dates of maize in maize with field pea intercropping system

A field experiment was conducted to study the optimum row proportion, optimum sowing time of maize and economics of maize with field pea intercropping system. It was laid out in RCBD with three replications during kharif 2015 at farmer's field in Lokur, village Dharwad district of Karnataka. There were nine treatments consisting of two planting patterns i. e. sowing of maize within and between the rows of maize in field pea with four dates of sowing for maize. Among the intercroppings significantly higher grain yield (4459 kg/ha), stover yield (6481 kg/ha), cob weight (251.83 g) and cob length (19.49 cm) were recorded when simultaneous sowing of maize with field pea. Green pod yield (1592 kg/ha), number of pods per plant (20.13) and number of seeds per pod (9.70) were higher when maize sown between rows three weeks after sowing of field pea. Higher net returns (Rs. 47636/ha), B: C ratio (2.36), LER (1.23) and MEY (5896 kg/ha) were recorded when maize was sown between the rows two weeks after sowing of field pea.