Evaluation of different soybean based rainfed cropping sequences in vertisols of Madhya Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted at AICRP for Dryland Agriculture, College of Agriculture (RVSKVV), Indore (MP) during 2018-19 to 2020-21, to find out the suitable cropping sequences for Malwa and Nimar valley region. Nine cropping sequences including soybean/maize/blackgram-based cropping systems, viz., soybean-chickpea, soybean-safflower, soybean-mustard, maize-chickpea, maize-safflower, maize-mustard, blackgram-chickpea, blackgram-safflower and blackgram-mustard were tested in randomized block design with 5 replications. Among the sequences, soybean equivalent yield of maize - chickpea cropping sequence was the highest (4153/ha), followed by maize-mustard (3293/ha) and maize-safflower sequence (3222/ha). Existing soybean-chickpea sequence recorded soybean equivalent yield of 2586 kg/ha, which was 60.60% lesser than maize-chickpea cropping sequence. The maize-chickpea cropping sequence recorded the highest gross returns (Rs. 1,86,890/ha), net returns (Rs. 1,46,890/ha) and B:C ratio (4.67) followed by maize-mustard (Rs.1,48,200/ha Rs.1,08,200/ha and 3.71, respectively) and maize-safflower sequence (Rs.1,44,990/ha Rs.1,04,990/ha and 3.62, respectively). Similarly, the maximum production efficiency (18.06 kg/ha/day), economics efficiency (638.65 Rs/ha /day) and relative production efficiency (60.60%) were recorded under maize-chickpea cropping sequence. Highest land use efficiency (98.63%) was noticed with maize-mustard followed by blackgram-mustard sequence.