ABSTRACT

Intercropping, the agricultural practice which include growing two or more than two crops at the same time that leads to the reduction of the weeds competition, lowering the insect attacks and fertilizer losses. This crop mixture greatly influenced the yield of crops due to the different root pattern, plant height, canopy structure and different nutrient, water and light requirements based on the complementary utilization of these resources by the component crop. Intercropping while using legumes enhance the fertility level of the soil through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), it conserves the soil by providing greater ground cover, also improves soil physical conditions, soil structure and texture. Moreover, intercropping provides insurance against the failure of crop especially in the area with more uncertain conditions about drought, frost and flood. So, it provides more financial stability then sole cropping pattern, this feature makes the intercropping suitable mainly at small farms. It also needs lower inputs through fewer requirements of fertilizers so intercropping is an environmentally friendly technique. Besides this intercropping also have some disadvantages. Selection of best intercropping system is quite complex because the success of the system totally dependent on the interaction of crops, available resources their management and the environmental conditions. Intercropping is also very helpful for increasing the yield of subsequent crop. This paper provides knowledge about the evaluation of intercropping and crop combinations it also elaborates the advantages and disadvantages of intercropping by using a large number of examples from the literature which shows the importance of intercropping for the sustainable agriculture. Keywords: Biological nitrogen fixation, intercropping, crop mixture, sustainable agriculture, crop combination
Publication date: 01/05/2020

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2020/May/MS_IJBPAS_2020_5062.pdf

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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2020/9.5.5062