Intercropping of Medicinal and Spice crops under different Agroforestry tree species in Punjab

Abstract

Performance of five medicinal and spice crops viz. Fenugreek, Fennel, Celery and Dillseed was investigated as sole crops and as intercrops with block plantations of Poplar, Dek, Toon, Gmelina, Maharukh and Eucalypt spaced at 6 x 3.5 m at the age of two and three years during 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, respectively in the Research Farm of Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. Eucalypt trees recorded the maximum height, whereas the mean gain in DBH was maximum in Maharukh. Crown spread was more of Dek than rest of the tree species after three years of tree growth. All the crops performed better as sole crops than intercrops. Increase in age of trees from two to three years resulted in significant decline in growth and yield contributing characters like plant height, number of primary branches, umbels and umbellets per plant in Fennel, Celery, Dillseed, and number of pods, seeds/pod and pod length of Fenugreek crop. The seed yield of Fenugreek and Fennel was higher under Gmelina, whereas Dillseed recorded highest yield under Poplar trees during both the years. The production of Celery was higher under Poplar and Toon at the age of two and three years, respectively. All the crops recorded the highest reduction in seed yield when grown with Eucalypt than other trees during 3rd year of tree growth. Celery gave the highest returns followed by Fennel and Dillseed in second year of tree growth, while Dillseed, Fenugreek and Fennel remained more remunerative in the subsequent year.