Abstract
The biological intercrop relationship of wheat-methra intercropping systems comprising four rows of wheat + one row of methra, four rows of wheat + two rows of methra, four rows of wheat + three rows of methra and four rows of wheat + four rows of methra, was studied against sole wheat and sole urethra on sandy clay loam soil. Wheat was planted in four rows strips, 100 cm apart with a 20 cm space between the rows. One, two, three and four rows of rnethra were grown in between wheat strips. The various yield components of wheat like number of fertile tillers per unit area, number of grains per spike and grain weight per spike, were affected sig-nificantly by the various intercropping systems. Intercropping of one, two, three and four rows of rnethra in four rows of wheat strips, decreased the wheat yield by 4.43, 7.77, &49 and 7.88 q ha-I, respectively. However, at the cost of this much reduction in wheat yield an additional harvest of 221, 181, 3400 and 2.4 q ha-1 of methra seed was obtained by intercropping one, two, three and four rows of methra, respectively, which compensated much more than the losses in wheat production.
INTRODUCTION
Multiple cropping may be an effective way of increasing the income from small holdings through better light, nutrients and water harvest. The yield of the cereals is sometimes increased when intercropped with legumes compared to a sole crop (Kaira and Ganpvar,1980).
Singh el al. (1983) revealed that neither sowing pattern nor intercropping Vigna ?yin g° had any effect on grain yield of wheat. It was concluded by Khan (1984) that intercropping linseed and mungbean iii wheat reduced the grain yield by 16.98% and 4.91%, respectively. Wheat-legume inter-cropping system proved better than that of wheat-non legume. Raman (1984) reported that grain yields of wheat and lentil were re-
duced significantly in lentil-wheat mixture in 100:40 and 100:50 intercropping systems compared with monocropping. However, mixed cropping resulted in better land uti-lization and higher income than either crop alone. Mandal a al. (1985) substantiated that number of fertile tillers in wheat was the highest when grown alone. Number of grains per ear in wheat were reduced by in-tercropping mustard. However, the optimum ratio of the component crops with appropri-ate planting .geometry was considered es-sential for obtaining maximum economic returns of any companionlintercropping systems (Grewal et al. 1983).
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The present study was, therefore, de-signed to find the feasibility and profitability of different wheat-methra intercropping systems under irrigated conditions.
