Seed production of Daucus carota (Linn.) in silvi-olericultural system

Integrating vegetable-seed production in tree systems and trees in vegetable-seed production systems and will enhance environmental protection, ecosystem diversity and sustainability in small farms, in India. Keeping this in view, a silvi-olericultural model was evaluated with five multipurpose tree species viz. Acacia nilotica Willd ex. Del., Albizia procera Benth; Dalbergia sissoo Roxb., Gmelina arborea Linn., and Tectona grandis Linn. with one vegetable crop i.e. carrot Daucus carota (Linn.) in the semi- arid climate of Madhya Pradesh. Tree growth parameters used were height, gbh, shade per cent. Seven parameters such as shoot length, root length, diameter of root, diameter of umbel, shoot biomass, root biomass and seed weight used for carrots. The measurements were recorded for both the years. Measurements of basal area, canopy cover and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) were done in the second year. In addition, silvi-olericultural system was evaluated, for additional production advantage following land equivalent ratio (LER) techniques. Growth parameters of carrot, in general showed more growth under control than under tree species. In recent years, work on vegetable - agroforestry compatibility is advancing rapidly, however work on seed production – vegetable in agroforestry has not been undertaken for which the results from this study may be useful