Abstract

Field experiment was conducted during rabi season, 2013-14 to the study the effect of crop establishment techniques and crop geometries on growth attributes, water productivity and yield of rice-vegetable cowpea cropping system. Experiment was laid out in strip plot design and treatments were replicated thrice. The sixteen treatment combinations consisted of four establishment techniques viz., puddled transplanting (E1 ), puddled direct seeding (E2), unpuddled transplanting (E3), unpuddled direct seeding (E4) and four crop geometries such as 30 cm x 20 cm (S1), 20 cm x 10 cm (S1), 25 cm x 25 cm (S3 ) and 30 cm x 30 cm (S4). Among the different treatment combinations, square planting of 25 cm x 25 cm was adopted in puddled condition resulted in higher grain yield of 6963 kg ha-1 and straw yield of 9299 kg ha-1. Higher number of tillers m-2 (416.4), productive tillers m-2 (389.4), days to 50% panicle initiation (76), effective tiller percentage (96.6) and filled grains panicle-1 (275.1) were registered in same treatment combination. However, higher water productivity of 4.56 kg ha mm-1, establishment index (0.98) and root shoot ratio (0.45) were obtained in unpuddled direct seeding with 30 cm x 30 cm spacing. In case of succeeding vegetable cowpea, higher yield of 8780 kg ha-1, harvest index (0.57), water productivity (14.16 kg ha mm-1), emergence index (0.97) and days to 50% flowering (45.7) were recorded in 30 cm x 30 cm spacing under unpuddled direct seeded condition. Puddling practice was conducive for rice,unpuddled soil found to be optimum for succeeding deep rooted crops like vegetable cowpea.

Keywords: Crop geometries, Establishment index, Grain yield, Root shoot ratio, Water productivity, Rice -Vegetable cowpea cropping system.