Evaluation of Bt. cotton-based cropping systems in south Saurashtra region of Gujarat

A field experiment was conducted at Junagadh (Gujarat), India during three consecutive years (2007–08 to 200910) to evaluate the different cotton-based cropping systems. The experiment consists of total eight cotton-based cropping systems in which eight different crops were sown in the sequence of Bt. cotton. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Significantly higher cotton equivalent yield was obtained with Bt. cotton-groundnut (5288 kg ha⁻¹), followed by Bt. cotton-okra (4459 kg ha⁻¹) and Bt. cotton-sorghum (4298 kg ha⁻¹) cropping systems. The higher production efficiency was obtained with Bt. cotton-groundnut (19.68 kg ha⁻¹ day⁻¹), followed by Bt. cotton-sorghum (18.91 kg ha⁻¹ day⁻¹) and Bt. cotton-okra (18.64 kg ha¹ day⁻¹) cropping systems. Bt. cotton-sesame earned significantly maximum average net return (s 97897 ha⁻¹) being at par with Bt. cotton-groundnut (i 91322 ha⁻¹) and Bt. cotton-sorghum (₹ 90090 ha⁻¹) cropping systems over other cropping systems. Similarly, benefit: cost ratio was higher under Bt. cotton-sesame (2.04), followed by Bt. cotton-sorghum (1.85) cropping system. Land use efficiency was higher with Bt. cotton-groundnut sequence (80.55%), followed by Bt. cotton-onion (79.27%) and Bt. cotton-sesame (76.69%).