Agronomic and economic investigation of spatial arrangement and companion crops in pigeonpea based intercropping system in Alfisols

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of planting geometry (normal and paired rows) and companion crops (field bean, vegetable soybean and chia) under a pigeonpea-based cropping system in Alfisols under dryland conditions. The experiment comprised 15 treatments, replicated thrice in a randomized complete block design. The trial was conducted for two seasons (kharif, 2020 and 2021). Treatments consisted of sole cropping and intercropping of companion crops (field bean, vegetable soybean and chia) with different row proportions (1:2, 1:3 and 1:4) in pigeonpea. The results revealed that among the different planting geometries, paired-row planting of pigeonpea at 120/60 cm spacing recorded significantly higher plant height (141.05 cm), number of branches per plant (15.61), number of pods per plant (130.90), pod yield per plant (105.25 g plant-1), seed yield per plant (40.45 g plant-1), seed yield (1483 kg ha-1) and stalk yield (3449 kg ha-1) as compared to normal row planting. Higher pigeonpea equivalent yield (1666 kg ha-1) was recorded with paired-row pigeonpea (120/60 cm) intercropping with chia and higher land equivalent ratio (1.67) recorded with paired-row pigeonpea (150/60 cm) intercropped with vegetable soybean (1:4) compared to other intercropping systems. These treatments were found agronomically superior. Paired-row planting pigeonpea (120/60 cm) intercropped with vegetable soybean (1:3) found to be economically superior, with higher gross returns (Rs. 201992 ha-1), net returns (Rs. 160431 ha-1) and cost benefit ratio (4.86). From this study it could be concluded that paired pigeonpea intercropped with vegetable soybean is profitable system under dryland conditions and can be recommended for regions with red or light-textured soils.