Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during 1993-95 at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture and Research Institute. Karaikal for evolving alternate cropping systems for the Karaikal region of Union Territory of Pondicherry, which is situated at the tail end of Cauvery delta zone. Rice-cotton system was found to be the best system since it outyielded the conventional system (rice-blackgram)) and other cropping systems evaluated (rice-soybean, rice-vegetable cowpea and rice-sesame). The system rice-cotton recorded the maximum gross and net returns followed by rice-vegetable cowpea system. The rice-cotton system may be adopted in areas where water is available for atleast ten irrigations during summer and in areas where water is available for only five irrigations rice-vegetable cowpea system may be economical. Among the four levels of N (0.75. 112.5 or 150 Kg ha) applied to rice, application of 150 Kg N ha increased not only the yield of rice but also the production potential of the system in all the cropping systems studied.

Keywords: Rice based system. Alternative system