PLANTING GEOMETRY OF WHEAT GROWN AS PURE STAND AND INTERCROPPING WITH GRASSPEA AND LENTIL

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, during November 2008 to March 2009 to evaluate the effect of planting geometry of wheat grown as pure stand and intercropping with grasspea and lentil on the productivity and economic performance of intercropping systems. The experiment consisted of twelve treatments (Ti = Sole wheat, T 2 = Sole grasspea, T3 = Sole lentil, T4 = Wheat Paired Row (WPR), T 5 = WPR + 1 Row grasspea, T 6 = WPR + 2 Rows grasspea, 1 7 = WPR + 1 Row lentil, T 8 = WPR + 2 Rows lentil, T 9 = 1:1 row ratio of wheat and grasspea, T 10 = 3:1 row ratio of wheat and grasspea, T 11 = 1:1 row ratio of wheat and lentil, T 12 = 3:1 row ratio of wheat and lentil), which were laid out in a RCB design with three replications. Results revealed that, planting geometry had significant effect on plant height, tillers planf', above ground dry matter planf', length of spike, spikelet spike 1 , 1000 grain weight, grain yield and harvest index of wheat. Planting geometry also significantly changed plant height, branches plant", above ground dry matter plant ', 1000 seed weight, seed yield (t ha') and harvest index of grasspea and lentil. The results showed that, planting pattern of one row grasspea fitted in between two paired rows of wheat (T 5 ) gave the highest wheat equivalent yield (4.31 t ha'), LER (1.38), monetary advantage (Tk. 13423.91 ha d), gross return (Tk.72369 hi' ),.net return (1k. 30126 ha d ) and BCR (1.71). The second highest BCR (1.70) and LER (1.19) were noted from To treatment (3:1 row ratio of wheat & grasspea). In this intercropping system grasspea showed better compatibility than lentil when intercropped with wheat.