EFFECT OF ALTERNATIVE CROPPING SYSTEMS ON YIELD AND ADVANTAGE IN DIRECT-SEEDED UPLAND RICE AREAS IN INDIAN SUBTROPICS

An experiment was conducted during rainy season (April-August) of 1994 and 1995 to assess the performance of rice, maize, sesame, greengram and blackgram grown in sole and intercropping system on Gangetic alluv ial upland (Entisol) in West Bengal, India. All intercropping systems except sesame + rice had higher total productivity in terms of rice eq uivalent yield and net returns than all the sole crops. However, maxim um advantage was obtained from paired row planted maize blackgram syst em followed by maize + sesame, maize + blackgram and paired row plante d rice + blackgram. Paired row planted maize + blackgram increased lan d use efficiency (42%), rice equivalent yield (2955 kg ha(-1)), moneta ry return (Rs. 7294 ha(-1)), income equivalent ratio (1.22), monetary advantage (Rs. 3701 ha(-1)) compared with other cropping systems, whic h proved to be the most efficient system. The same treatment also indi cated a modest competitive ratio (4.65:0.21) and gave a good value for the product of crowding coefficient (8.28).