Production potential of vegetable cowpea intercropped in jatropha based cropping system under dryland conditions

A field experiment was conducted on performance of vegetable cowpea in Jatropha based cropping system during kharif, 2007 on alfisols at students’ farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Jatropha seedlings were planted during June, 2004 spaced at 3m x 3m, 4m x 3m, 5m x 3m and nourished with FYM at 5kg plant⁻¹ and NPK @ 46:50:25 kg ha⁻¹. Vegetable cowpea (Pusa Komal) was sown as intercrop in Jatropha on 30-06-2007 under rainfed conditions. Five treatments of nutrient management imposed to cowpea were azatobactor (5kg ha⁻¹), 20 kg N ha⁻¹ + azatobactor, 30 kg N ha⁻¹ + azatobactor, 30 kg N ha⁻¹ (Recommended dose), neem cake (2 t ha⁻¹) and control (without any nutrition). The experiment was conducted in factorial RBD with three replications. Among the three different Jatropha tree spacings, growth and yield of cowpea was higher when grown in the interspace of Jatropha trees spaced at 4m x 3m. Plant height, number of leaves per plant, vegetable pod yield, net returns and B.C ratio were found maximum with application of 30kg N ha⁻¹ + azetobactor followed by 20kg N ha⁻¹ + azetobactor when compared to other nutritional treatments.