On-farm trial on inter and sequential crops with sugarcane for assessing yield and economic returns of the system in sub-tropical India

An on-farm trial (OFT) was carried out on farmers” fields in Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh during 2010-11 and 2011-12 to assess cultivation potential and economic feasibility of sugarcane under inter and sequential cropping systems. Sugarcane was grown in autumn season along with widely cultivated crops viz., potato, mustard and coriander as intercrops under real farming situations, as well as sugarcane was grown in spring season after sequential crops of potato, mustard and coriander. Results of OFT indicated that autumn sugarcane with intercrops produced significantly higher cane yield to the tune of 15.83, 20.05 and 22.21 per cent as compared to spring planted sugarcane after sequential crops of potato, mustard and coriander, respectively. Though the autumn sugarcane provided higher cane yield than that of spring planted sugarcane, however, autumn sugarcane + potato produced 5.77 per cent more cane yield than sole autumn cane, but other intercrops viz., mustard and coriander decreased the cane yield by 7.09 and 7.22 per cent, respectively. Autumn sugarcane + potato produced the highest benefit:cost ratio of 1.65 which was 12.73 per cent higher than sole autumn cane (1.44). This clearly indicates economic feasibility of growing autumn sugarcane with potato as intercrop in the study area.