Assessing impact of broad bed and furrow sowing in cotton: Soybean (2:2) intercropping in vertisols under semi-arid condition

Water stress periods are common in rainfed agriculture. Activities aimed at conserving the rainwater should be adopted for improving the productivity of dryland. The major crops in Vidarbha are cotton and soybean. Rainfed farming plays an important role in agricultural economy of Vidarbha. It was observed that the drought situation may arise during crop growth period which may result in partial failure of crop. It was therefore felt worthwhile to adopt proper methods of in-situ moisture conservation so as to partially meet the adverse effect of water stress in standing crop. The BBF technology adopted at AICRPDA, DR. PDKV, Akola involves the sowing of soybean crop on broad bed furrow with the use of tractor operated 4 row BBF planter. Soybean crop can be spaced at 30 or 45 cm with four rows and two adjacent furrows each having 30 cm width and 15 to 20 cm deep. In case of cotton the spacing between cotton rows can be kept as 90 cm while middle two rows can be sowed with soybean with 30 cm row spacing. In case of cotton: soybean (2:2), the highest mean yield of soybean (974 kg ha⁻¹) and cotton (750 kg ha⁻¹) were observed in treatment of BBF along with 50% N+100% P + 100% K through inorganic + 50% N through gliricidia (T₁N₃). The treatment BBF along with 50%N+100% P +100% K through inorganic +50% N through gliricidia have recorded 19.1% and 17.0% more grain yield over normal sowing for soybean and cotton crops respectively. The mean cotton equivalent yield was observed higher by 18.6% in BBF sowing as compared to flatbed sowing. The highest mean gross monetary (GMR) and net monetary returns (NMR) of Rs. 76624 and Rs. 32252 ha⁻¹ were observed in BBF sowing as against of Rs.64014 and Rs. 19909 ha⁻¹ in case of flatbed sowing.