A Study on Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) + Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Intercropping Systems with Varying Row Proportions on a Semiarid Vertisol

A field experiment was carried out during rabi 2008 to 2012 at Mulegaon farm of All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture, Solapur Maharashtra to find out suitable geometry for sorghum + chickpea strip intercropping system on Vertisols under dryland condition. Among the various row proportions studied, sorghum + chickpea (3:3) at 45 cm row spacing system was found to be promising and registered significantly higher net returns ( 28676/ha), sustainable yield index (0.41), better land equivalent ratio (1.43) and rainwater use efficiency (31.93 kg/ha-mm) over the respective sole crops followed by sorghum + chickpea (2:6) at 30 cm row spacing ( 28537, 0.67, 1.43 and 32.81 kg/ha-mm, respectively) and sorghum + chickpea (2:1) at 30 cm row spacing ( 27593, 0.60, 1.33 and 30.96 kg/ha-mm, respectively).