Growth, development and biomass productivity of forage crops in Terminalia chebula (Retz.) based agroforestry system in Jammu

The present study was conducted to assess the growth and biomass productivity of four forage species in Terminalia chebula (Retz.) based agroforestry system at the Research Farm, Division of Silviculture & Agroforestry, SKUAST-Jammu. The experiment was laid out in a 2 × 4 factorial randomized block design, comprising two cropping patterns (open and intercropped) and four forage crops (Setaria sphacelata, Brachiaria brizantha, Setaria anceps, and Stylosanthes hamata), with three replications. Results revealed that growth parameters such as plant height, leaf length and number of leaves were significantly higher in open treatment compared to intercropped. A reduction of 11-21 per cent was observed in different intercropped treatments. Maximum plant height (101.40 cm), leaf length (69.49 cm) and fresh weight (14.73 Mg/ha) was recorded in S. anceps under open conditions. Maximum biomass was recorded in S. anceps, followed by S. sphacelata, B. brizantha and Stylosanthes hamata respectively, under open conditions. The study suggests that the performance of S. anceps was better compared to rest of the three species, indicating its suitability as intercrop under T. chebula.