AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

Paper No: #200603 Type of contribution: Original research paper Discipline: Crop Science - Agronomy Received: June 2006 Approved: Oct 2006

Growth and Yield of Sabai Grass (Eulaliopsis binata) Under Two Cropping Patterns with Horticultural Crops in Lateritic Fallow Lands

of India [Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops]

Manisha Basu1, S. C. Mahapatra2 and P. B. S. Bhadoria1

1 Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, W. B., India 2 Rural Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, W. B., India

Manisha Basu basu.manisha@gmail.com

Abstract A field experiment was conducted for two years to study the growth and yield of sabai grass under two cropping patterns and suitability of intercropping of this grass with different horticultural plants in acid lateritic fallow uplands under rainfed condition. The performance of sabai grass was evaluated in association with four horticultural plants viz., drumstick (Moringa oleifera), guava (Psidium guajava), ber (Zizyphus jujuba) and mango (Mangifera indica) under two cropping patterns (CP), viz., CP1: 100 cm X 40 cm and CP2: 75 cm X 50 cm spacing. The results revealed that various growth parameters of sabai grass like leaf length, canopy diameter, number of tillers per plant and dry matter production were comparable under two cropping patterns, however, in the second year growth was superior in CP1 to that of CP2. Regarding leaf yield, CP2 was better than CP1 in the first, however, the trend was reverse in the second year with a yield difference of 4.2% between the two cropping patterns. Among the four horticultural plants, the yield of intercropped sabai grass was in the order of mango, guava, ber and drumstick under CP2 in the first year and with the same order under CP1 in the second year. Keywords: Sabai grass, horticultural plants, cropping pattern, intercropping

Introduction In India an area of about 175 million hectares is subjected to various processes of land degradation, leading to occurrence of wastelands (Singh, 1994a). The bouldery soils are tropical wastelands occupying large areas in major parts of districts like Bankura, Purulia and East and West Midnapore of West Bengal due to soil erosion resulting during rainy season. These lands are gravelly and virtually barren or infested with wild thorny vegetation having little economic value (Routray et al., 2003). Low organic matter and nitrogen status, poor availability of phosphorus, and poor retention capacity for both moisture and nutrients characterize these lands (Basu et al., 2006). Moreover, due to untimely and irregular distribution of rain, during the cropping season they may be subject to periodical drought. In addition to that as most farmers have low income and poor resource to credit, inputs and modern technologies, many lands are kept fallow for several years resulting into creation of wastelands. With the present practices, introduction of appropriate crops suitable for these situations may be the only way for the revival of these wastelands. There is little scope for cultivation of food crops on these lands. However, these lands can be reverted back to productive and more useful purposes by adopting suitable silvopasture production systems (Viswanatham et al, 1998). The most efficient scientific program to improve these lands is to control biotic interference and renovation by using suitable horticultural plants and grass species.

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AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

Sabai grass (Eulaliopsis binata (Retz.) C. E. Hubb), a perennial plant, is found to grow extensively on marginal and sub-marginal rainfed uplands as a commercial crop. The importance of this grass is mainly due its long, thin, flexible and fibrous leaf which is very good raw material for paper, rope and rope based items (Barik, 1998). Moreover as it is a wide spaced crop and initially slow growing for 1-2 years other crops suitable for these soils can be grown for accruing more economic benefit. As information on sabai grass based cropping system is practically very less, so here some horticultural plants like mango, guava, ber and drumstick has been tried with sabai grass under two cropping patterns and study has been made to find out which plant or plants are suitable with sabai grass under which plant density.

Materials and Methods The experiment was conducted during 2003 to 2004 at Golghoria village, Kharagpur, India in red lateritic soil (Alfisol). The land was kept fallow for the last 25 years. The climate of this region is hot humid and the soil is sandy loam with well drainage capability. The soil is having udic type of moisture regime. The fertility status of the soil was low in terms of organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium with pH value of 5.4. The experiment was laid out in a split plot design, where four horticultural plants were treated as main plot effect and two cropping patterns as sub-plot treatments. Treatments Cropping pattern (CP): 2 CP1: Sabai grass with plant population of 25,000 plants ha-1. Spacing: 100 cm (row-row) X 40 cm

(plant-plant). CP2: Sabai grass with plant population of 26,667 plants ha-1. Spacing: 75 cm (row-row) and 50 cm

(plant-plant). Test crops 4 perennial horticultural plants: drumstick (Moringa oleifera), guava (Psidium guajava), ber (Zizyphus jujuba) and mango (Mangifera indica). All the horticultural plants and slips of sabai grass with 10-12 tillers per slip were planted during the 2nd week of July, 2003. Pits of 1m X 1m were made at a distance of 7m X 5m for plantation of mango, 5m X 5m for ber and guava and 4m X 5m in case of drumstick. The leaves of sabai grass were harvested once in a year in the month of November for pulp purpose. Data were recorded on growth parameters of sabai grass like leaf length (cm), number of tillers per plant, canopy diameter (cm) and dry matter accumulation (g m-2) at harvest and dry leaf yield. Statistical analysis The recorded data were analyzed with the help of analysis of variance (ANOVA) for split plot design (SPD). Least significant differences (LSD) were conducted at a 5% level of probability, where significance was indicated by F-test (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).

Results and Discussion Growth parameters Different types of cropping pattern and various horticultural plants had significant effect on growth parameters like leaf length, canopy diameter, number of tillers per plant and dry matter production of sabai grass. Leaf length It is apparent from Figure 1 that cropping pattern did not show any influence on leaf length of sabai grass at harvest in the first year. However, in the second year, CP1: 100cm X 40cm spacing proved to be significantly better than CP2: 75cm X 50cm spacing. Regarding horticultural plants in the first year no remarkable difference was observed in association with mango, guava and ber, while the lowest leaf length was recorded in association with drumstick. In the second year also the performance of sabai grass was promising in case of guava and mango probably due to less canopy coverage of these plants (data not shown) as compared to ber and drumstick and there was significant difference among them. Drumsticks with higher canopy coverage suppressed the growth of sabai grass. Among the treatment combinations mango with CP1 resulted in the highest leaf length which was followed by guava with CP1. The lowest leaf length was recorded in case of drumstick under CP2 and the reduction was 14.8% when compared with the association of mango under CP1.

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AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

0

40

80

120

160

CP1 CP2 CP1 CP2

2003 2004

Leaf

leng

th (c

m)

Dumstick Guava Ber Mango

Figure 1. Leaf length (cm) of sabai grass as influenced by cropping patterns and different horticultural plants Canopy diameter The canopy diameter of sabai grass was not influenced by cropping pattern in the first year. This was also true for all the association with horticultural plants, except drumstick which showed significantly lower leaf length as compared to other associated horticultural plants (Table 1). In the second year, CP1 developed significantly higher canopy diameter over CP2 and the difference was 4.2%. Slow growth rate of sabai grass in the early stage could not affect the growth of other grass plants in their immediate vicinity, while in the second year vigorous growth of sabai grass caused overlapping effect in case of CP2 due to low spacing between rows. Almost comparable canopy diameter was noted in association with mango and guava. This might be due to similarity in their canopy coverage. Among the four horticultural plants, canopy diameter was higher in association with mango as compared with other three. On an average the lowest value was recorded in association with drumstick followed by ber. Lower canopy coverage in association with drumstick and ber might be due to shading effect by their canopy. Table 1. Canopy diameter (cm) of sabai grass as influenced by cropping patterns and different horticultural plants

Treatments 2003 2004 Pool Mean of two years

Horticultural Plants Drumstick 41.6 77.9 59.7 Guava 44.4 84.2 64.3 Ber 43.4 79.6 61.5 Mango 43.4 82.7 63.0 LSD (P=0.05) 0.69 0.95 1.02 Cropping pattern CP1 43.3 82.8 63.0 CP2 43.1 79.4 61.3 LSD (P=0.05) NS 1.67 1.15

Tiller number per plant and dry matter accumulation The trend of effect of two cropping patterns and association of four horticultural plants on the tiller number per plant and dry matter accumulation (g m-2) of sabai grass was same as leaf length and canopy diameter (Table 2 and Figure 2). On an average, CP1 resulted in 6.0% higher tiller number per plant over CP2 which resulted in higher dry matter accumulation and the difference was 8.3% in the second year.

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AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

CP1 CP2 CP1 CP2

2003 2004

Dry

mat

ter,

g m

-2

Dumstick Guava Ber Mango

Figure 2. Dry matter accumulation (g m-2) of sabai grass as influenced by cropping patterns and different horticultural plants Among the four horticultural plants (on an average) the maximum values of these two growth parameters were obtained in association with mango followed by guava. Among all the treatment combinations the highest tiller number per plant and dry matter accumulation was obtained in association with mango with CP1. The lowest value was recorded in case of drumstick under CP2. On an average, in association with drumstick, sabai grass recorded 10.2% and 12.3% lower tiller number and dry matter respectively when compared with the association of mango in the second year. This might be due to the suppression effect of drumstick. The tree cover generally suppresses the growth and dry matter yield of grasses due to competition effects of various resources like nutrient, moisture and light (Qarro and De-Montard, 1989). The adverse effect was more pronounced in the vicinity of the trees. Same finding was reported by (Walker et al., 1986). Table 2. Number of tillers per clump of sabai grass as influenced by cropping patterns and different horticultural plants

Treatments 2003 2004 Pool Mean of two years

Horticultural Plants Drumstick 47.3 91.2 69.3 Guava 50.1 99.4 74.8 Ber 49.2 95.1 72.1 Mango 50.9 101.6 76.3 LSD (P=0.05) 1.03 2.16 1.39 Cropping patterns CP1 49.7 99.6 74.7 CP2 49.1 94.0 71.5 LSD (P=0.05) NS 5.21 2.38

Yield Dry leaf yield of sabai grass was significantly affected by different plant densities and association with various horticultural plants (Table 3). The yield is higher in the second year as compared to first year due to initial slow rate of growth of the crop. Though CP1 recorded higher leaf length, canopy diameter, number of tillers per plant and dry matter production, but higher leaf yield was noted in CP2 in the first year and on an average the difference was 2.7%. This was mainly due to higher plant population per unit area of land under CP2 (26,667 plants ha-1) than the CP1 (25,000 plants ha-1). However, in the second year, the trend was reverse with a difference of 4.2%.

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AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

Table 3. Dry leaf yield (kg ha-1) of sabai grass as influenced by cropping pattern and different horticultural plants

2003 2004 Horticultural plants (HP) CP1 CP2 Mean CP1 CP2 Mean Drumstick 1698.3 1720.5 1709.4 3128.3 2960.3 3044.3 Guava 1788.8 1831.2 1810.0 3542.8 3418.0 3480.4 Ber 1761.3 1782.9 1772.1 3363.0 3216.7 3289.8 Mango 1793.0 1905.4 1849.2 3605.0 3493.7 3549.4 Mean 1760.3 1810.0 3409.8 3272.1

HP CP HP x CP HP CP HP x CP LSD (P=0.05) 75.29 NS 112.54 124.69 68.32 215.47

This might be due to the fact that in the second year the individual sabai grass plant under CP2 was affected due to overlapping of the adjacent plants, which resulted in less sunlight penetration leading to less production of photosynthates and ultimately reduced yield. Whereas, no such effect was observed in CP1 since the row to row spacing was 100 cm. It can be seen from Table 1 that the canopy diameter of sabai grass was up to about 44 cm, whereas in the second year the canopy diameter increased up to about 83 cm. Therefore, this expansion of canopy diameter was responsible for burdening the penetration of sunlight. After studying the growth pattern of sabai grass it may be stated that from second year onwards the biomass yield under CP1 would be higher to that of the CP2 due to intra-species competition for light. As regards the association of four horticultural plants, the leaf yield of sabai grass was recorded poor in association with ber and drumstick. Maximum yield was recorded in association with mango, which was statistically at par with that of guava. This may be due to the less-spread canopy structure of guava and mango, whereas the same in case of ber is horizontal and near to the ground causing smothering effect on the near by sabai grass plants. The canopy of drumstick trees allowed less sunlight penetration facilitating poor growth of sabai grass in comparison to ber (Qarro and De-Montard, 1989). Among all the treatment combinations mango with CP2 recorded the highest leaf yield and the lowest leaf yield was recorded in case of drumstick under CP2 in the first year. In the second year CP1 based combinations showed better result as compared to CP2. Conclusions From the present study it can be concluded that for sabai grass, the spacing of 100 cm (row-row) and 40 cm (plant-plant) with plant population of 25,000 plants ha-1 is more advantageous as compared to the spacing of 75 cm (row-row) and 50 cm (plant-plant) with plant population of 26,667 plants ha-1, with respect to biomass production. Among four associated horticultural plants mango and guava was proved to be most suitable, whether the worst performance of sabai grass regarding growth and yield was obtained in association with drumstick followed by ber. Among all the treatment combinations mango/guava-sabai grass intercropping under sabai grass spacing of 100 cm (row-row) and 40 cm (plant-plant) for is most suitable regarding growth and yield of this perennial fiber grass. However, in a mixture of crops the requirements of component crop differ, especially concerning rate, time and method of fertilizer application. As all the plants are perennial in nature, research in this area for a longer time is necessary to obtain maximum benefit from the system without affecting their growth.

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AgroThesis (2006); Vol.4, No.1: 44-49 Growth and yield of Sabai grass with horticultural crops

Singh, G., Singh, N. T. and Dagar, J.C. (1994a). Alternate land management systems for sustainable development of salt-affected soils. In: Singh, P., Pathak, P.S. and Roy, M.M. (Eds.). Agroforestry Systems for Degraded Lands, Vol. I, pp. 104-110. Oxford & IBH Publishing C. Pvt. Ltd. Qarro, M and De-Montard, F.X. 1989. A study of range land productivity in the air-bench region (Middle Atlas, Central Plateau). I. The effect of cutting frequency and relative tree cover on herbaceous production. Agronomy. 9(5): 477-487. Viswanatham, M. K., Samra, J. S. and Sharma, A. R. 1998. Biomass production of silvipasture systems on gravelly lands of Doon Valley. Bulletin No. T-39/D-26.CSWCRTI, Dehradun, Allied Press, India. 1-2 pp. Walker, J., Robertson, J. A., Penridge, L. K. and Sharpe, P. J. H. 1986. Harbege response to tree thinning in a Eucalyptus crebera woodland. Aust. J. Ecol. 11(2): 135-140.

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