PERFORMANCE OF PEARL MILLET-BASED INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS UNDER DROUGHTCONDITIONS

Performance of sole, mixed, row, and strip cropping systems was assess ed under drought conditions. The mean index of moisture adequacy (I(MA )) for the initial two weeks of crop growth was 0.62 and 0.69 in two s easons, which indicated enough moisture during the seedling stage. The crops faced mild drought (mean I(MA) = 0.27 and 0.33) during vegetati ve phases and severe drought (mean I(MA) = 0.07) during reproductive p hases in both seasons. Mixed cropping and row intercropping produced l esser yields than the sole cropping, while strip cropping gave better yields and more risk coverage over sole cropping. A pearl millet-clust erbeam mixture showed superiority over a mixture of pearl millet with greengram or cowpea. Lower yields under row intercropping systems as c ompared with the sole cropping in drought years was attributed to high er populations in row intercropping. In strip cropping (4:4 rows), bot h the components produced grain, thereby showing superiority over mixt ures and row intercropping. The border rows of strips yielded 12% to 1 69% higher grain than adjacent inner rows when intercropped with cowpe a, greengram, and clusterbean. The pearl millet-greengram strip croppi ng (4:4) showed the highest land equivalent ratio of 1.26, indicating 26% advantage over sole cropping.