Economics and Yield Performance of Sesbania-Pearlmillet Inter Cropping System under Dryland Conditions of Southern Haryana

A field experiment was conducted during the kharif seasons of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 at the research farm of Dryland Agriculture Research Area of Department of Agronomy, CCS HAU, Hisar. The experiment was conducted with 10 treatments (T1 - Pearlmillet sole at 45 cm, T2 - Sesbania sole at 45 cm, T3 - Sesbania sole at 60 cm, T4 - Sesbania at 90 cm spacing + 1 row of pearlmillet, T5 - Paired row of sesbania at 45:90 + 1 row of pearlmillet, T6 Sesbania at 120 cm spacing + 1 row of pearlmillet, T7 - Sesbania at 120 cm spacing + 2 row of pearlmillet, T8 - Paired row of sesbania at 45:120 + 2 rows of pearlmillet, T9 - Paired row of sesbania at 60 : 120 + 2 rows of pearlmillet and T10- Paired row of sesbania at 60 : 120 + 1 row of pearlmillet) in a Randomized Block Design with three replications. The experiment was failed during kharif 2014 due to low and eratic rainfall in the region. It was observed that intercropping of sesbania in pearlmillet had superior value in respect of the Sesbania grain Yield, pearlmillet grain yield, pearlmillet equivalent yield, net return and B:C ratio among all intercropped treatments. From the pooled data of three years, the highest pearlmillet equivalent yield (17.3 q/ha) was recorded by T7- Sesbania at 120 cm spacing + 2 row of pearlmillet followed by T8 - Paired row of sesbania at 45:20 + 2 rows of pearlmillet. The highest Net return (Rs 5483/ha) and B: C ratio (1.30) was also recorded in T7- Sesbania at 120 cm spacing + 2 row of pearlmillet.