Lecture 7.

Agronomic requirements in management of cropping system Choice of

crop and varieties, tillage and land shaping, density and crop geometry,
seed rate, time and methods of sowing,
Agronomic considerations
1. Selection of compatible crops and varieties
2. Tillage & land shaping requirement with reference to intensity & time
3. Stand establishment through optimal density, geometry, method and time of sowing.
4. Water requirement and irrigation scheduling
5. Soil fertility management and soil health care.
6. Crop protection against pests, diseases and weeds.
7. Labour management to spread peak season labour demand and reduce cost of labour.
A. Selection of crops and varieties
1. For sequential cropping
a. Irrigation water / Soil moisture availability
Intensification over time leads to increase in water requirement
Number & nature of crop depends on irrigation water availability
Wetlands - residual soil moisture
Garden lands - well water availability
Drylands - length of rainy season & quantity decides double cropping.
b. Soil type
c. Economic returns based on price and marketability
d. Multiple produce requirement of farm family
e. Soil fertility maintenance
Intensive cropping demand more nutrients
Nature of crops should maintain soil fertility and not exhaust it
Crops differing rooting pattern and nutrients
f) Residual effect of crop residues (allelopathy & immobilization)
g) Alternate hosts for pests and diseases
h) Solar radiation use efficiency (C4 plants production/unit area/unit time)
i) Duration crops
2. Selection of crops and varieties for intercropping
Competition for solar radiation, water and nutrients, possible changes in the
incidence of pests, diseases and weeds
Complimentary & allelopathic effects
a. Duration difference between component crops (25 per cent preferable)
b. Difference in rooting pattern (Avoid overlapping)
c. Difference in height and canopy architecture
d. Difference in nutrient requirement
e. Complimentary nature of crops (rhizosphere microflora mobilization)

f. Allelopathic effect ; g. Pest, disease and weed infestation

Note: Genotypic variation should be kept in mind for selection
3. Selection of crops in multi-tier cropping

Main aim is to make the best use of solar radiation at different heights
Best combination will have different heights, varying maturity duration and
different rooting pattern.
E.g.: Coconut + Black Pepper + Cacao + Pineapple

4. Selection of crops for border / bund cropping

Should not require special care in management

Must withstand damage due to passage of humans and cattle
Preferably, they must mature earlier or along with the main crop
Should not cause any border effects due to shade or roots to main crop
E.g.: Black gram - rice field, Onion in chillies, Sunflower - ragi.

B. Tillage and Land shaping

1. Time interval between crops (turn around time)
Preparatory cultivation to be completed in quick time
Zero tillage, once over tillage, minimal tillage, conservation tillage, chemical tillage,
plough sole planting etc to be taken into account
Relay sowing and ratooning save on tillage
Early completion & special types of tillage warrants use of suitable tillage
implements and machinery in intensive cropping.
2. Increase in cost of tillage

Use of labour and time saving implements

Adopt zero and minimal tillage depending on soil suitability and crop
Once over tillage accomplished by single run of the machinery

3. Land shaping requirements

To avoid delay, land shaping can be done after crop establishment eg. Rice fallow
cotton dibbling without tillage & earthed up later
In inter cropping, land shaping requirements of base & intercrop varies
Semi permanent seedbeds in dryland to reduce cost & time (BBF)
4. Reducing main field duration of crops in sequential cropping
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Raise short duration crops and varieties

Raising nursery and transplanting
Hastening maturity through defoliants, ripeners, dehydrators, etc
Harvesting at physiological maturity
Ratooning and relay sowing.

f.

For delayed maturity from excessive vegetative growth topping, growth

retardants, reducing N supply, with holding irrigation etc.,

C. Stand Establishment
1. Optimum population proportion of component crops in intercropping
Total population per unit area is usually higher than sole crop
Avoid too much competition by optimum density proportion of components
otherwise may lead to poor growth
Decide based on expected level of yield advantage
Yield of base crop is desired, maintain base crop population as sole crop and
intercrop population at 30-50 per cent of its pure crop
If base crop is not affected, intercrop population be increased even up to 100 percent
to maintain yield advantage
If combined yield advantage is required even if the individual crop performance is
less than its pure crop the proportionate population of component crop is then fixed
so
2. Crop geometry

Widen inter-row spacing and reduce intra-row spacing for base crop
(Sorghum - 45x15 cm 60x10 cm)
Paired row planting

Replacement of main crop rows by intercrop rows Sorghum + Castor - 8

:1

Multistory cropping system (eg) Coconut-10m + black pepper-6-8m +

cacao-2.5m + pineapple-1.0m

3. Time of sowing
Sow simultaneously if the crops differ widely in their growth pattern
Eg. Sorghum + Red gram, Cotton + Black gram, Groundnut + Red gram
If peak demand periods overlap stagger the sowing of component crops
Eg. Sunflower + groundnut
Cultural requirement for one crop may necessitate sowing the component crops at
different times
Eg. Cotton + onion intercropping
Relay intercropping situations, sowing is so fixed to avoid overlapping
Eg. Rice fallow black gram
For sequential cropping, if allelopathy or immobilization is expected allow sufficient
time interval
4. Method of sowing
Broadcasting can not ensure optimal population and crop geometry
Drilling with suitable seeding equipment is ideal and cheaper