MULINITI SOWJANYA, DEEKSHITH REDDY, ANITA JASWAL* AND ARSHDEEP SINGH
Department of Agronomy, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411 (Punjab),
India
*(e-mail: anita.27139@lpu.co.in, Mobile: 95017 03516)
(Received: March 15, 2023; Accepted: April 21, 2023)
ABSTRACT
The field experiment was conducted in Agriculture Research Farm of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, during kharif season of 2022. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with seven treatments and three replications. The treatments included T1–Sole maize, T2–Sole moongbean, T3–Sole soybean, T4–Maize+moongbean 1:2, T5 –Maize+soybean 1:2, T6–Maize+moongbean 1:3 and T7 – Maize+soybean 1:3. Plant height (196.0 cm), stem girth (9.3 cm), number of leaves/plant (15.7), leaf area (1052.2 cm2), chlorophyll index (41.2 SPAD), crop growth rate (2.53 g/m2/day) and relative growth rate (0.490 gg/day) were recorded highest under maize+moongbean (1:3). Similarly, grain yield (5882.0 kg/ha), seed index (386.5 g), cobs/plant (1.8), cob length (19.3 cm), cob diameter (8.5 cm), number of grains/cob (17.67), straw yield (7519.0 kg/ha) and harvest index (43.86%) were also recorded maximum with maize+moongbean (1:3) which was significantly better to all the treatments. The yield assessment functions like land equivalent ratio (LER) and maize equivalent yield (MEY) prominently indicated the benefits of maize-legume intercropping system under Punjab region.
Key words : Legume, intercropping, zero hunger, yield assessment, sustainability