Increasing farmer’s income and reducing soil erosion using intercropping in rainfed maize-wheat rotation of Himalaya, India

• Published in: Agriculture, ecosystems & environment Vol. 247; pp. 43 - 53
• Main Authors: Sharma, N.K., Singh, Raman Jeet, Mandal, D., Kumar, Ambrish, Alam, N.M., Keesstra, Saskia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.09.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Canopies; Cereal crops; Corn; Crop canopy of maize; Crop diversification; Crop rotation; Crop yield; Cropping systems; Crops; Economics; Erosion; Experimentation; Field tests; Grain; Intercropping; Landscape; Okra; Productivity; Profitability; Rainfed farming; Regression analysis; Resource conservation; Row spacing; Runoff; Slope; Soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soil loss; Soil moisture; Soil water; Studies; Sustainable agriculture; Water conservation; Wheat; India; Crop diversification; Runoff; Soil loss; Crop canopy of maize; Slope
• ISSN: 0167-8809; 1873-2305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2017.06.026

•Maize+cowpea (1:1) intercropping had no effect on maize yields.•Maize+cowpea (1:1) reduced runoff by 26% and soil loss by 43% than only maize.•Maize+cowpea (1:1 and 1:2) intercropping had positive effect on wheat yields.•Wheat yields linearly decreased with the increasing runoff rates in previous maize. Humankind faces the need to achieve sustainable agriculture production, meanwhile increasing crop yields and reducing soil and water losses. Soil conservation through intercropping or crop canopy management is widely accepted as one of the ways of diversifying crop yields in rainfed agriculture in sloping landscapes. Field experiments were conducted between 2009 and 2014 to evaluate the effects of one or two rows of cowpea/okra intercropped with maize (planted either in 90 or 150cm row spacing) on productivity, profitability, and resource conservation on 4% sloping crop land in the Himalayas. During five years of experimentation, a total of 110 runoff events were observed in the maize crop grown in rainy months of June to September. The results showed that by growing one row of cowpea in between two rows of maize (90×20cm), no effect was observed on the productivity of rainfed maize. Productivity of the succeeding wheat crop was enhanced by 13% which resulted in a higher net return (117 US$ ha−1) than in a maize-wheat system. This system also reduced runoff and soil loss by 26% and 43%, respectively, compared to only a maize cropping system. Regression analysis revealed as runoff in maize crop increases, grain yield of succeeding rainfed wheat crop decreases due to the less availability of soil moisture.