Vol. 6 (l&2) : 101 - 102 (2004)

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Rabi Onion-intercropping in Autumn Planted Sugarcane Avtar Singh and Krishan Kumar Vashist Department of Agronomy and Agrometeorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - 141 004

The pure s t a n d of a u t u m n s u g a r c a n e gave the m a x i m u m cane y ie ld (593.2 q /ha) w h i c h was at p a r with cane y ie ld (588.1 q/ha) ob ta ined f r o m s u g a r c a n e : O n i o n (1:1) p l a n t i n g m e t h o d . Net prof i t too fo l lowed the s a m e t rend . However , both the cane y ie ld and the net prof i t d e c r e a s e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y w h e n the n u m b e r of o n i o n r o w s p lan ted i n - b e t w e e n s u g a r c a n e rows were i n c r e a s e d to e i ther two or three in c o m p a r i s o n to one.

KEYWORDS : Autumn sugarcane, onion, net profit, comparison

Autumn planted sugarcane results in higher cane yie ld and sugar r e c o v e r y than spr ing p lanted sugarcane. Owing to the wider inter-row spacing of 90 cm and very slow rate of growth during November to January provide suitable conditions for growing the rabi crops like potato, wheat, raya, toria, winter maize, gobhi sarson ( Singh, 1993, Singh and Mehra, 1995, Sharma et al., 1997, Singh et al. , 1999 and Vashist et al., 2003). However work on high value vegetables like onion is lacking and thus a field study was unde r t aken to asses the compa t ib i l i t y and p roduc t iv i ty of rabi onion with autumn planted sugarcane.

The experiment was conducted during 2000-2001 at Regional Research Station, Kheri, Sangrur. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in

texture with pH 8.6. It was low in available nitrogen, phosphorus and medium in available potassium. The treatments consisting of sugarcane alone, sugarcane + onion (1:1), sugarcane + onion (1:2) sugarcane + onion (1:3) were evaluated in a complete randomized block design with six replications. The main crop of sugarcane (variety COJ-86) was planted in rows spaced 90 cm. apart on October 4, 2000. The inter crop was planted on February 3, 2001 by obtaining nursery from the local market. Sugarcane crop was supplied with 225 kg N/ha. Recommended fertilizer was also applied for the onion crop on the basis of area covered as an intercrop. Recommended cultural practices were followed to raise the sugarcane and onion crops. Sugarcane was harvested on December 28, 2001 while the onion crop was harvested on June 1, 2002.

Table - 1 : Cane y ie ld and net r e t u r n as a f fec ted by d i f f e r e n t t r e a t m e n t s

T r e a t m e n t s Cane y ie ld O n i o n yie ld E x p e n d i t u r e Net prof i t (q /ha) (q /ha) (Rs . /ha) " (Rs . /ha)

Pure sugarcane 593.2 35178 24142

Sugarcane + Onion (1:1) 588.1 20.0 43791 24986

Sugarcane + Onion (1:2) 502.0 32.1 52403 13830

Sugarcane + Onion (1:3) 476.2 46.7 61016 9954

CD at 5% 17.4 1356

Sale price of sugarcane Rs. 100/- and Onion Rs. 500/- per quintal

A u t h o r for C o r r e s p o n d e n c e : Avtar S ingh e -ma i l : avtar_bimbraw@yahoo.com

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The pure s tand o f s u g a r c a n e gave the m a x i m u m cane y i e ld (593.2 q /ha ) which was at pa r wi th cane y i e l d (588.1 q /ha) o b t a i n e d f rom suga rcane : Onion (1 :1) p l a n t i n g m e t h o d . Ne t p ro f i t too f o l l o w e d the s a m e t rend. H o w e v e r , bo th the cane y i e l d and the net prof i t d e c r e a s e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y when the n u m b e r o f onion rows p l a n t e d i n - b e t w e e n s u g a r c a n e rows were i nc reased to e i t h e r two or three in c o m p a r i s o n to one. Net p ro f i t was s i g n i f i c a n t l y l o w e r u n d e r s u g a r c a n e :on ion , 1:2 or 1:3 i n t e r c r o p p i n g sy s t e ms when c o m p a r e d wi th so le c rop of suga rcane . The s t a t i s t i ca l l y same net p ro f i t and cane y ie ld u n d e r pure s u g a r c a n e and s u g a r c a n e : on ion , 1:1 i n t e r c r o p p i n g sys t em migh t be due to the late p lan t ing o f rab i onion as in ter c rop in s u g a r c a n e . Thus , there is need to c a r r y out the fu r the r s tud ies by p l a n t i n g the rabi on ion at the o p t i m u m t ime i.e. D e c e m b e r to f irst f o r t n igh t of January .

R E F E R E N C E S

Singh, Avtar (1993). Economics of intercropping in autumn planted sugarcane. Journal of Sugarcane Technology, 8(1) : 71- 72.

Singh, Avtar and Mehra S.P. (1995). Yield and ecnomics of various sugarcane (autumn) based inter cropping systems. J. Res. Punjab Agric. Univ., 32(3) : 259-264.

Singh, Sarjit, Singh, Makhan, Kapur, M.L., Garcha, A.I.S. and Saini, L.K. (1999). Productivity and economics of autumn sugarcane based intercropping system. Indian Sugar, XLIII : 977-982.

Sharma, R.K., Neema, G.K. and Vermeer, H.D.(1997). Intercropping of different crops in autumn planted sugarcane. Journal of Sugarcane ~l'echnology, 42 : 422-424.

Vashist, K.K, Singh. Hargopai and Singh, Avtar. 2003. Intercropping studies in spring planted sugarcane under Flood Plains conditions. Sugar Tech, 5(1&2) : 79-80.

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