Intensification of Cropping through Introduction of Second Crop after Peas in Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

A field experiment consisted of seven pea based cropping sequences viz. Pea-mustard 'NDRE 4', Pea-mustard 'JD 6', Pea-toria 'Bhawani', Pea-local sarson 'Yungar', Pea-French bean 'Contender', Pea-buckwheat 'Local' and Pea-buckwheat 'USDA' was conducted at Kukumseri (Lahaul and Spiti) during 2010 and 2011 to find out the most remunerative second crop after main pea crop for dry temperate conditions of western Himalayas. The local sarson 'Yunger' took the least days (58 days) for maturity closely followed by French bean. Buckwheat USDA took highest number of days (92) to mature. Among new introduced mustard varieties 'NDRE 4' took 81 days. The highest pea equivalent yield (6377 kg/ha) with net return of INR 86714/ha and B: C ratio of 1.82 was obtained from pea-Frenchbean 'Contender' sequence followed by pea-mustard 'NDRE 4' (5561 kg/ha) with net return of INR 81478/ha and B: C ratio of 1.86. The increase in yield and net return with the best sequence (pea-Frenchbean 'Contender) over the most prevalent pea- local sarson 'Yunger' sequence was 24.9 and 23.8%, respectively.