Productivity and energetic of rice (Oryza sativa) based cropping systems under sub-tropical condition of Jammu

A field experiment was conducted at Chatha, Jammu during 2006 to 2008 to find out energy-efficient rice based cropping system among different crop sequences. The best sequence crops performed in the system were mainly rice (Oryza sativa. L.) var. ‘IET-1410’, ‘PC-19’, garlic (Allium sativum L.) var. local, Cowpea (Vigna unguicculatta L.) var. ‘Pusa Komal’, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) var. ‘Kufri Badasah’, onion (Allium cepa L.) var. ‘N-53’, marigold (Tagetes erecta. L) var. ‘Pusa Narangi’, Frenchbean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) var. contender, maize (Zea mays L.) var. ‘Kanchan’, greengram (Vigna radiata L.) var. ‘SML- 818′. Out of ten crop sequences, rice-garlic-cowpea recorded the highest average rice equivalent yield (46.37 t/ha) with B:C ratio of 2.59 followed by rice-potato-onion (33.96 t/ha) and rice-marigold-frenchbean (29.31 t/ha). Rice-potato-maize+greengram required higher energy input (62,887 MJ/ha) and specific energy (2.59 MJ/kg), whereas energy output and average energy use efficiency was recorded the highest in existing rice-wheat system (2,66,188/MJ/ha) and ricebarseem for fodder-last cut for seed (11.46), respectively. However, average energy productivity was recorded highest in rice-garlic-cowpea (1.29 kg/MJ) followed by rice-marigold-frenchbean (0.83 kg/MJ).