Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at the farm lands of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture & Research Institute, Karaikal during kharif, 2003 and 2004 in order to design an appropriate alternate cropping system for Karaikal region of Union Territory of Pondicherry to meet the exigency of water scarcity and to boost the income of the farmers on sustainable basis. The first year of field experiment (2003 – ‘04) was conducted during kharif season in a split plot design with four ID crops viz. ‘CO7’ pearl millet, ‘CO27’ forage sorghum, ‘TMV3’ sesame and ‘Palur 1’ brinjal under two amendments viz. FYM @ 12.5 t ha-1 and gypsum @ 100 per cent neutralization of RSC of water along with an unamended control. During second year (2004 - ’05), the kharif experiment was studied in split -split plot design with two more additional crops viz. ‘CO (S) 28’ grain sorghum and ‘CO1' maize, one additional amendment i.e. gypsum at 50 per cent neutralization of RSC and another additional factor as foliar spray at two levels i.e. foliar spray treatment with 2% DAP + 1% KCl and a control. The highest Rice Yield Equivalent (RYE) was realized with brinjal (7852 kg ha-1) and grain sorghum (4544 kg ha-1) and similarly the total system productivity was the highest in brinjal - rice (12736 kg ha-1) and grain sorghum - rice (9249 kg ha-1) during 2003-’04 and 2004–’05, respectively. The additional expenditure above the existing system of fallow - rice was higher in brinjal - rice sequence (Rs. 14589 ha-1) and at the same time additional returns from that sequence was also higher (Rs. 31899 ha-1) than other crop sequences under study during 2003-'04. However, during 2004-'05, grain sorghum - rice registered more net gain of Rs. 6132 ha-1 than others. In all the double crop systems under study, application of FYM had proved its economic viability by registering higher net gain than other amendments. However, application of inorganic amendment (gypsum) either at 50 per cent or 100 per cent neutralization of RSC of water was not found to be economically remunerative more particularly to pearl millet, forage sorghum, maize and sesame

Keywords: Cropping sequence, cropping system, amendment gypsum, return