Identification of Pongamia (Pongamia pinnata L.) Based Suitable Intercropping Practices for Sustainable Production of Biofuel and Nutritional Security in Semi-Arid India

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive cropping years to investigate the effective intercropping practices, keeping pongamia as the main crop with redgram, horsegram, castor and blackgram as an intercrop. The trials were conducted in factorial RBD with three spacing of pongamia viz. 6 × 6m, 6 × 4m and 6 × 8m, while recommended spacing of pongamia was 6 × 6m. All intercrops were sown as per the recommended package of practices. The study revealed highly significant differences in performance due to spacing, intercrops and their interaction in both the years of evaluation. Based on two year's study, cultivation of redgram as intercrop with pongamia was found to be the best practice with spacing of 8×6m followed by 6×6m for maximizing the returns and utilizing the space available between rows of pongamia.