YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF WHEAT AS INFLUENCED BY INTERCROPPING OF CHICKPEA, LENTIL AND RAPESEED IN DIFFERENT PROPORTIONS

Abstract

The feasibility of intercropping chickpea, lentil and rapeseed in wheat under rainfed condition was investigated at Arid Zone Research Farm, D.I.Khan during 2002-03. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Wheat (Inqilab-91) was sown as sole crop and intercropped with chickpea (NIFA-88), lentil (Masoor-93), and rapeseed (Dunkled) in different proportions viz; 1:1, 2: 1 and 3:1. The experiment was sown on 2 November 2002. The results showed that plant height, spike length, number of grains per spike and grain yield of wheat varied significantly among intercropping systems, while the effect on 1000-grain weight was non-significant in all cases. Plant height, spike length, number of grains per spike and grain yield of wheat was higher with chickpea intercropping. The mean values of different proportions showed that the highest grain yield of wheat (1687 kg ha'1) was obtained with chickpea intercropping, against the minimum with rapeseed intercropping. Among different ratios of intercropping, the chickpea intercropping in 1:1 ratio gave the highest grain yield (1721 kg ha') of wheat while the lowest yield of 1213 kg ha' was obtained from wheatrapeseed intercropping in 1:1 ratio.