Influence of intercropping on seed and yield of cotton at Tandojam

The results revealed that all the growth and cotton seed were significantly (P<0.05) affected by cotton + mungbean and cotton + cowpea intercropping systems. The cotton crop planted as sole crop ranked first with 93.67cm plant height, 2.67 monopodial branches plant-1, 18 sympodial branches plant-1, 48.44 bolls plant–1, 41.66 opened bolls plant-1, 349.92g 100 bolls weight, 45.49g seed cotton weight plant-1 and 3252.54kg ha-1 seed cotton yield. However, cotton + mungbean intercropping system ranked 2nd with 84.78cm plant height, 2.00 monopodial branches plant-1, 15.78 sympodial branches plant-1, 42.22 bolls plant–1, 36.31 opened bolls plant-1, 342.63g 100 bolls weight, 36.75g seed cotton weight plant-1 and 2627.39kg ha-1 seed cotton yield. Whereas, cotton + cowpea intercropped ranked 3rd with 74.22cm plant height, 1.22 monopodial branches plant-1, 14.44 sympodial branches plant-1, 38.33 bolls plant–1, 32.97 opened bolls plant-1, 333.89g 100 bolls weight, 33.17g seed cotton weight plant-1 and 2371.66kg ha-1 seed cotton yield. In cotton sole cropping, the seed cotton yield was 3252.54kg ha-1, while 2627.39kg and 2371.66kg ha-1 when mungbean and cowpea were intercropped with cotton, respectively. Additional yields of 1087.47kg and 1621.84kg were observed when mungbean and cowpea when intercropped with cotton as compared to 2135.05kg and 3131.48kg ha-1 under sole cropping. The statistical results revealed that all the growth and seed cotton yield attributes were significantly affected under cotton + mungbean or cotton + cowpea intercropping systems at (P<0.05) levels.