Competition indices of different pigeonpea based intercropping systems

A two-year feld experiment was conducted at research farm, RVSKVV Gwalior. Seven crops i.e. Sesame, groundnut, soybean, greengram, blackgram, cowpea and clusterbean were sown as a sole crop as well as intercropped with pigeonpea and replicated thrice in randomized block design during kharif seasons of 2018 and 2019, to determine the competition among the different species of each intercropping system. Intercropping systems were assessed on the basis of several intercropping indices such as land equivalent ratio (LER), area time equivalent ratio (ATER), relative crowding coefficient (RCC or K), actual yield loss (AYL), monetary advantage index (MAI), and intercropping advantage (IA). The LER and ATER was the highest for pigeonpea and groundnut intercropping system which was statistically at par with intercropping of greengram, blackgram and cowpea, indicating that in these systems, there was an advantage of intercropping for exploiting the resources of the environment over other intercropping systems and sole pigeonpea. A similar trend was also observed for RCC and AYL. The highest MAI and IA values were recorded for pigeonpea and groundnut intercropping system which was statistically at par with pigeonpea and cowpea intercropping system, indicating that these intercropping systems were the most proftable among all the treatments.