Jute and green gram inter cropping for better economy, weed control & sustainability, India.

A. JUTE AND GREEN GRAM INTER CROPPING
Asesh Kumar Ghorai and Asim Kumar Chakraborty
Ex-Principal scientist (Agronomy) and Senior Scientist (Agril. Statistics), ICAR-CRIJAF, WB, India
Jute and green gram is inter-cropped by modified CRIJAF multi-row seed drill in 1:1 (20cm : 20cm spacing) ratio. The alternate seed drums contain jute and green gram seeds for sowing of intercrops. The hole size in drums for jute seeds are 2.2 mm (diameter) and for green gram the hole sizes are of diameter 5-6 mm.It is sown from 15th March to 30th March in prepared jute field with a basal fertiliser dose of N: P : K2O :: 20:70:70. Early sowing is done to prevent green gram pods from damage by rainfall.In onion or potato or vegetable fields initial nitrogen can be skipped. Jute variety recommended now in JRO-BA3 ( premature flowering resistant variety and short duration (55-60 DAS) YMV resistant green gram varieties are Virat and TMB 37. Green gram cultivars like Pant mung 5, Samrat, Sukumar etc can also be used. Jute seed rate is only 2kg/ha and green gram seed rate is 10.5 kg/ha. Green gram seeds to be treated with a good insecticide to prevent bird eating. Jute seeds to be treated with Bavistin @ 2g/kg seed.
Following sowing one irrigation is applied and Pretilachlor 50 EC is sprayed @ 3ml/l (600 lit. water per ha) at 48 hours of sowing for initial weed control. Jute plant an green gram populations of 30/m2 and 20 /m2 are enough for good yield and to avoid partial shade by each other. For control of sucking insects (vector control) and initial fungal attack mixture of Imidacloprid 0.5 ml + 1.5 g Bavistin per lit water is sprayed at 15 days intervals twice. Pulse pod sucking bugs can be controlled by Deltamethrin 1.5 ml/l. For pulse borer control Emamectin benzoate 10 g in 30 lit water, or any other effective lepidopteran control insecticide can be sprayed.
Irrigation and nitrogen top dressing to be with hold till harvesting of green gram (55-65 DAS). Apply 30 kg nitrogen with irrigation after green gram harvest. After another 15 days top dress another 15 kg nitrogen. In case of damp weather Dithane M 45 can be sprayed @ 2.5 g/l to avoid fungal attack of pods.
This intercropping system eliminated 2nd and 3rd weeding by weed smothering (green gram reduces light entry below its canopy by more than 95% at 35 DAS) and adds 2-3 t nitrogen rich biomass/ha (2.35 % nitrogen on dry weight basis) in soil. Pulse yield : 3-6 q/ha depending on rainfall and number of pickings.
Jute fibre yield: 27-33 q/ha.
In mixed cropping the fibre yield is 27-30q/ha and that of green gram is 2-3 q/ha. In relay crop jute is sown after final picking of green gram pods. Here pulse yield varies up to 9-15 q/ha jute crop yield varies from 30-35q/ha depending on irrigation facility. Insurance crop: Under early waterlogging (70 DAS) or hail storm green gram acts as insurance crop yield .
Harvesting procedures: Matured mung plants can be uprooted/ cut by sickle and dried in sun in the plot within rows if strong sun prevails. Or its pods can be picked individually/ or whole plants can threshed by manual bitting or by mechanical thresher.
Reference:
1.A.K. Ghorai, Mukesh Kumar and C.S. Kar (2016). Intercropping in jute with greengram for weed smothering. Ind.J. weed sci. 48(3): 343-344
2.Asim Kumar Chakraborty, Asesh Kumar Ghorai, N. M. alam, Suman Roy and Ritesh Saha. Effect of Spatial Arrangements on Yield and Competition of Jute (Corchorus Olitorius l.) and Mungbean (Vigna radiata l. Wilczek) in Intercropping.SAARC Jr.of Agri., 19(2):137-155 DOI: 10.3329/sja.v19i2.57677

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