Productivity and economics of cowpea (Vigna unguiculala L. walp) under mono and intercropping systems at paonta valley of Himachal Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2005 and 2006 at Hill Agriculture Research and Extension centre farms, Dhaulakuan, Sirmour HP. The experiment consisted of nine treatment combinations of maize and cowpea. It was carried out in randomized block design with three replications to see the performance of cowpea varieties under mono and intercropping systems. The results indicated that during Kharif, 2005, T₂ (Cowpea, C-410) produced highest yield of 7.59 q ha-1 which was statistically superior to all treatments combinations but was at par with T₃, (Cowpea-C-475, 7.44 q ha-1) and T₅ (Cowpea-C-236A,7.03 q ha-1). During 2006, T₂ (Cowpea, C-410) again out yielded other cowpea varieties and produced highest yield of 10.37 q ha-1. The lowest yield under sole crop was produced by T₄, Cowpea C-380 (5.92,8.33 q ha-1) during both the years. The cowpea yields under intercrop treatments ranged from 1.03 to 1.74 q ha-1 and 1.29 to 2.00 q ha-1 during 2005 and 2006 respectively. Cowpea variety C-380 performedbest as intercrop (1.74 and 2.0 q ha-1). Number of days to flowering and maturity were higher in intercropping treatments where as Lower values of pods per plant and 100 seed wt were observed under intercropping treatments than sole crop. The results for maize yield (pooled) shows that highest yield was recorded under T₁, sole crop, (43.70 q ha-1) which was statistically superior to the yield obtained under all other combinations. Lowest yield was recorded under T₉, Maize+C-236A (35.55 q ha-1). The highest maize equivalent yield was produced by T₈, Maize+C-380 (46.09 q ha-1) which was at par with T₆, Maize+C-410 (44.87 q ha-1) but superior to other treatments combinations. Lowest maize equivalent yield was recorded under T₄ (23.57 q ha-1). The data shows that intercropping treatments have produced higher yield than sole crops, which clearly indicate the benefits of intercropping over sole crop. The outcome from the experiment revealed that Cowpea variety, C-410 produced the highest yield when grown as sole crop where as C-380 performed best as intercrop. Treatment T₈ (Maize+C380) was the best with maximum net returns of Rs 19093=00 ha-1 and 3.59 as B:C ratio.