Intercropping of maize, millet, mustard, wheat and ginger increased land productivity and potential economic returns for smallholder terrace farmers in Nepal

• Published in: Field crops research 2018-10, Vol.227, p.91-101
• Main Authors: Chapagain, Tejendra, Pudasaini, Roshan, Ghimire, Bhawana, Gurung, Khem, Choi, Khem, Rai, Laxmi, Magar, Samjhana, BK, Bishnu, Raizada, Manish N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Land equivalent ratio; Seasonal intercropping; Terrace agriculture; Total land productivity; Year-round intercropping
• ISSN: 0378-4290; 1872-6852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fcr.2018.07.016

•A menu of legume intercrop options for subsistence farmers in Nepal was tested.•Maize + cowpea, millet + soybean, wheat + pea, mustard + pea, and ginger + maize – soybean appeared to be productive.•Seasonal intercropping increased yield by 16–30% and potential income by 15–288%.•Ginger + maize – soybean was an innovative year-round option in the mid-hills.•Intercropping appeared to be a viable option to intensify terrace agriculture. Low nitrogen inputs, low crop yield, and low land productivity are major challenges associated with cereal-based sole cropping systems in Nepal. Crop intensification and diversification by introducing legumes as intercrops could help alleviate these challenges. With the presence of diverse crops and cropping systems, particularly in hilly topographies, a range of intercrop options is required. We compared 10 intercrop combinations to native sole cropping systems in the mid-hills of Nepal for two cropping seasons (2015–2017) to identify the most productive and economic intercrop combinations for smallholder terrace agriculture. In the spring-summer season (i.e., mid-March to mid-July), cowpea (var. Makaibodi and Suryabodi) and bean were intercropped with maize in 1:1 rows, whereas soybean, blackgram, and horsegram were broadcast with millet (30:70 ratios) during the rainy-autumn season (i.e., mid-July to mid-November). Pea and lentil were used as pre-winter/winter intercrops (i.e., mid-November to mid-March) in mustard (30:70 ratios), while wheat was planted with pea. Ginger was planted with maize in 1:1 rows during the spring-summer season in which the maize rows were replaced by soybean and lentil during the rainy-autumn and pre-winter/winter season, respectively. Plots were analyzed for yields of individual crops as well as other agronomic indicators including land equivalent ratio (LER), total land output (TLO), harvest index (HI), and potential economic return. Maize + cowpea var. Makaibodi appeared to be the most productive and economic intercrop combination for the spring-summer season (LER – 1.58 and TLO – 4.26 t ha−1, 21% higher than the maize sole crop with an increase in potential economic return by 67%) whereas millet + soybean appeared to be the best combination for the rainy-autumn season (LER – 1.40 and TLO – 2.21 t ha−1, 26% higher than the millet sole crop with a 288% increase in potential income). For the pre-winter/winter season, wheat + pea and mustard + pea combinations appeared to be productive (wheat + p