A study on cauliflower based intercropping system
This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences (IJCMAS) studies the performance of cauliflower based intercropping system. The experiment consisted of seven treatments, where one with sole cauliflower as monocrop and in the remaining six French bean, pea, beet, carrot, palak and coriander were included as intercrops with the cauliflower. The experiment was laid out in the randomized block design with three replications. Sole crop of cauliflower recorded the highest performance for all the growth characters, yield attributes and yield. However, when taking into account the yield of intercrops, the combined gross yield was higher for all intercrops except that of cauliflower with coriander. Whereas, inclusion of legumes in intercropping system was helpful towards improvement of physical as well as bio-chemical properties of cauliflower curd. The land equivalent ratio (LER) also improved with legume intercropping. However, the combined gross biomass production, net return in monetary value and benefit – cost ratio were at a bit higher side with beet, carrot and coriander intercropping system. So, from the overall point of view it may be concluded that intercropping in all the cases proved beneficial compared to that of mono culture. The study directed towards the fact that intercropping with root crops may be advocated for more return per unit area, while to get promising quality of cauliflower legume intercrops are always preferable.