Evaluation of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) based Intercropping Systems under Semi-arid Vertisol in Scarcity Zone of Maharashtra

A field experiment was conducted during kharif for five years (2008 to 2012) at All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture centre, Solapur to evaluate pigeonpea based intercropping systems under Vertisols in scarcity zone of Maharashtra. Among pigeonpea based intercropping systems, pigeonpea + groundnut (1:3) was found superior with mean maximum pigeonpea equivalent yield 1425 kg/ha and mean maximum rainwater use efficiency of 3.19 kg/ha-mm compared to other intercropping systems across five years and also gave mean maximum net returns of 30,307/ha. Further, this intercropping system also recorded relatively higher land equivalent ratio of 1.29 indicating yield advantage of 29% compared to sole crops.