Influence of planting pattern and nutrient management on plant growth, yield and quality of sweet corn in a rainfed sweet corn-cowpea intercropping system

Intercropping, a sustainable agricultural practice, enhances land use efficiency, soil fertility and overall crop productivity. This study uses a split-plot design to evaluate the effects of various Sweet corn (SC) + Cowpea (CP) intercropping patterns and nutrient management strategies on sweet corn growth, yield and quality during 2019 and 2020 cropping years. The hypothesis was that intercropping, combined with optimal nutrient management, can significantly enhance the performance of sweet corn. Amongst the planting pattern and nutrient management practices, sweet corn and cowpea planted in alternate paired rows of 2:2 and 75 % of the soil test based recommended fertilizer (STBFR) to SC and STBFR to CP, supplemented with consortia biofertilizer (BC) gave superior results in terms of growth, yield and yield attributing characters as compared to other treatments. Specifically, SC planting with CP in 1:1 and 2:2 ratios showed a yield increase of 13 % to 15.6 % over the same-row planting. Although the planting pattern did not significantly influence the quality parameters of SC, the nutrient management practice involving 75 % STBFR with BC resulted in the highest accumulation of total sugars (10.8 %), reducing sugars (1.98 %), non-reducing sugars (8.55 %) protein content (8.69 %), total soluble solids (TSS) value (15.79 °Brix), phenol content (0.19 %) and calcium content (42.73 mg) in the kernels. The study suggested that intercropping sweet corn and cowpea in a 2:2 row pattern, combined with 75 % STBFR to SC + STBFR to CP + BC, is a sustainable and economically beneficial practice for farmers.