Wild pomegranate based intercropping: assessing fertilization and varietal response on crop production and soil physico-chemical properties
摘要
Integrating native tree species with cash crops supported by suitable cultural practices can add to the sustainability of the systems in terms of production, resource utilization and conservation. The experiment was conducted to study the growth and yield of Pisum sativum L. along with soil physico-chemical properties as influenced by pea varieties, Pusa pragati and JK124 Hybrid, and fertilization treatments comprising recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), goat manure and farm yard manure (FYM) in wild pomegranate based agroforestry system. Pusa pragati was found superior to JK124 Hybrid in term of the growth and yield parameters such as plant height, days to first flower, pod length, days to marketable maturity, number of pods per plant, seeds per pod, 100 seed weight and yield ha−1 performance. However, no significant effect of crop variety was recorded on soil properties except bulk density (BD). Among different fertilization treatments, RDF resulted in better crop growth in terms of lesser days to first flower (62.83) and higher pods per plant (18.40), pod length (7.70 cm), 100 seed weight (28.97 g) and yield (51.80 q ha−1) of the crop. Soil properties such as bulk density, pH, EC and available nitrogen, were found to be significantly affected by fertilization. Goat manure reduced bulk density (1.15 g cm−3) and pH (7.03) while increased EC (0.52 dS m−1) and available nitrogen (351.23 kg ha−1), thereby improving the physico-chemical properties significantly. Interaction of variety with fertilization only affected yield parameters such as pods per plant, pod length and yield ha−1 significantly with Pusa pragati giving best results when supplemented with RDF. Economically Pusa pragati supplemented with RDF was found to be the most viable combination. For mid-hill conditions of the fragile Himalayas wild pomegranate based agroforestry can be a suitable bio-economic model with improved productivity, profitability and sustainability.