Influence of crop establishment practices and genotypes in pigeonpea-wheat system under IGP of India

A field experiment was conducted during 2013–14 and 201415on a Typic Ustochrept at ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur (26°46 ’N, 80°35 ’E, 126 m above msL), India to study the influence of crop establishment practices and genotypes in pigeonpea-wheat system under IGP of India. The experimental soil was sandy loam, well drained and deep. The study revealed that introduction of short duration pigeonpea during Kharif and wheat in Rabi was remunerative under irrigated agro-ecosystem of Indo-Gangetic Plain Zone (IGPZ). Planting of pigeonpea on raised bed substantially improved crop growth parameters viz., branches/plant, leaf area index (LAI) and chlorophyll content (SPAD Chlorophyumeter reading SCMR) over ridge method of sowing. Similarly, raised bed planting proved its superiority in terms of grain yield and yield attributes over the latter. Therefore, raised bed planting was advantageous in high to moderate rainfall zones (NEPZ) over ridge-furrow system. Pigeonpea ‘UPAS 120’ performed superior over other varieties tested under the location. Among wheat cultivars, ‘Unnat Halna’ (late sown wheat) recorded significant improvement in grain yield over that in ‘Shatabdi’ (normal sown wheat) during both the years of experimentation. In fact, higher grain yield to the tune of 17.1 to 18.5% was recorded in ‘Unnat Halna’ over that in ‘Shatabdi’. As a result of this, the overall higher system productivity in terms of pigeon pea equivalent yield (PEY) was evident under raised bed plantingsystem, pigeonpea ‘UPAS120’and wheat‘Unnat Halna’ over corresponding comparable planting systems/varieties. The study suggested that appropriate selection of suitable varieties of both pigeonpea and wheat was essential for realization of higher yields of crops especially when it was preceded by appropriate land configurations for planting in the existing agro-ecosystem of IGP.