Effect of different intercrops on growth and yield attributing parameters and yield of pigeonpea

A field experiment was conducted during the kharif seasons of 2021 and 2022 on organically certified field at Organic Farming Research and Training Centre (OFRTC), Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri, District Ahmednagar, (M.S.) on medium black soils to study the performance of different crops in pigeonpea based intercropping system. The treatments comprised of seven sole cropping systems viz., T1-Sole Pigeonpea, T2-Sole Onion, T3-Sole Cauliflower, T4-Sole Greengram, T5-Sole Soybean, T6-Sole Sesame, T7-Sole Pearlmillet and six pigeonpea based intercropping systems viz., T8 - Pigeonpea + Onion (1:8), T9 - Pigeonpea + Cauliflower (1:3), T10 - Pigeonpea + Greengram (1:5), T11 - Pigeonpea + Soybean (1:5), T12 - Pigeonpea + Sesame (1:5) and T13 - Pigeonpea + Pearlmillet (1:5). These treatments were randomized appropriately and each treatment replicated thricely during both the years of research trial. On the basis of two year experimental results, the treatment T1-Sole Pigeonpea recorded significantly maximum plant height, number of primary and secondary branches plant-1, dry matter accumulation plant-1, number of pods plant-1 (230.77), weight of pods plant-1 (141.37 g), weight of seeds plant-1 (99.41 g), grain yield (1849.50 kg ha-1) and stalk yield (4290.52 kg ha-1) at harvest and it was followed by T11 - [PP + Soybean (1:5)], T10 - [PP + Greengram (1:5)] and T8 - [PP + Onion (1:8)] intercropping systems, on pooled mean.