Productivity and Economics of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Intercropping

The productivity and economic efficiency of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) intercropping was assessed at the Agronomy farm of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka during 2007/2008. This experiment was designed in a Randomized Complete Block Design with five treatments, each replicated three times. The planting pattern comprised brinjal as mono crop with the spacing of 90 cm × 60 cm (T1), groundnut as mono crop with the spacing of 45 cm × 30 cm (T2), alternative planting of brinjal at 90 cm × 60 cm and groundnut at 90 cm × 30 cm (T3), 60/150 cm paired row planting of brinjal with two rows of groundnut in between paired rows (T4) and 75/120 cm paired row planting of brinjal with one row of groundnut in between paired rows (T5). Yields of both plants were measured at harvest. Also, land equivalent ratio, gross return, net return, cost-benefit ratio and monetary equivalent ratio were calculated as per standard equations. The results revealed that compared to monocropping brinjal yield, T4 gave 38% additional yield followed by T3 (20%). Maximum Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was recorded in T4 (1.57) and minimum LER was recorded in T5 (1.31). Gross return and cost - benefit ratio were increased by 50.69% and 47.35% respectively in T4 compared to T1. And also monetary equivalent ratio (1.49) was higher in T4. All intercropping system gave substantially high net income over monocropping. As compared to brinjal monocropping, net income has been increased by 60.62% in T4 followed by T3 (50.86%). This experiment showed that 60/150 cm paired row planting of brinjal with two rows of groundnut in between paired rows (T4) would be the most suitable planting system to enhance land use efficiency and increase the income in sandy regosol. Key words: Cost-benefit ratio; gross return; land equivalent ratio; monetary equivalent ratio; net return. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jfa.v2i1.3936 JFA 2009; 2(1): 1-