Productivity and economic benefits of coconut based vegetable cropping systems under central dry zone of Karnataka

Abstract

<p>Coconut based cropping systems with vegetables i.e., okra-fallow (2012-13) and tomato-fallow (2013-14), green manure-cucumber,<br />baby corn-gherkin and coconut monocropping as control with four integrated nutrient management (INM) practices viz., inorganic<br />fertilizer alone (100%), 5 ton farm yard mannure (FYM)+75% NPK+25% N by vermicompost (VC), 5 ton FYM+50% NPK+25%<br />N by vermicompost+25% N by composted coir pith (CCP)+ Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) micronutrient spray<br />and 5 ton FYM+50% N by vermicompost+50% N by CCP+vermiwash spray+Azatobacter were evaluated at HRS, Arsikere,<br />Karnataka during the year 2012 to 2014 by adopting factorial RBD with five replications. All the vegetable crops gave the highest<br />yield under integration of organic and inorganic manure treatments, viz., 5 tonne FYM+74% NPK +25% N by VC and 5 ton<br />FYM+50% NPK+25% N by vermicompost+25% N by CCP+IIHR micronutrient spray, whereas the lowest vegetables yield was<br />noticed with 5 ton FYM+50% N by vermicompost+50% N by CCP + vermiwash spray + Azatobacter. Cropping sequence, baby<br />corn-gherkin resulted in the highest coconut equivalent yield of intercrops and cropping system (33,548 nuts ha-1 and 44,414 nuts<br />ha-1, respectively). Pooled economic analysis indicated that, okra-fallow and tomato-fallow sequence resulted in significantly<br />higher net income (` 4,03,551 ha-1) compared to other sequences and it was on par with baby corn-gherkin sequence<br />(` 3,60,365 ha-1).</p>