Productivity, resource-use efficiency and profitability of high-value crops embedded diversified cropping systems

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during rainy (kharif), winter (rabi) and summer seasons of 2015-17 on a sandy clay loam soil at New Delhi to evaluate 5 cropping systems, viz. maize–pea–okra, maize–mustard–green gram, cotton–wheat, bottle gourd–onion and okra–wheat, for productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency. The experiment was laid-out in a randomized block design replicated 4 times. Bottle gourd–onion cropping system recorded the highest wheat-grain-equivalent yield (WGEY) of 19.9 t/ha followed by maize–pea–okra (14.06 t/ha). The lowest WGEY was recorded with maize–mustard–green gram (9.12 t/ha). The gross returns (` 313.56 × 103/ha), net returns (` 123.5 × 103/ha), B:C ratio (3.23), production efficiency (54.52 kg/ha/day) and monetary efficiency (593 `/ ha/day) were also higher with bottle gourd–onion cropping system, while maize–mustard–green gram registered the lowest gross returns, net returns and B:C ratio. All the five cropping systems can substitute the existing rice – wheat cropping system under marginal farmers situations, not only by providing higher productivity and returns, but also a regular income throughout the year.

Keywords

• Cropping systems
• High-value crops
• Profitability
• Resource-use efficiency and Sustainability.