2. What is Cropping System? Its Objectives and Types?

What is Cropping System?

Definition: It is defined as the cropping pattern and its specific management over a period. It is location-specific.

Mixed System: It is the sowing of two or more crops without specific row differentiation in a field at the same time.

Example: Groundnut and sunflower together.

Advantage: it minimizes the risk of complete crop loss in case one crop is destroyed due to some reasons.

Disadvantage: crop operations become difficult.

Intercropping: It is the sowing of two or more crops in a field with a specific row differentiation at the same time.

It has a few subtypes:

2.1 Parallel Intercropping: Sowing two or more crops parallel to each other. Example: Black Gram(A) + Wheat(B)

[A= A+B]

2.2 Companion Intercropping: Companion crops are those which do not compete with each other for moisture, space, or nutrients.

Example: Mustard/Potato/Maize(A) + Sugarcane(B)

[A= A+B]

2.3 Multilevel Intercropping: These are crops that occupy different spaces in terms of height.

Example Mustard(A)+ Sugarcane(B) + Potato(C)

[A< A+B+C]

2.4 Synergetic Intercropping: When the yield of both crops is more than pure crop. Example: Sugarcane(A) + Potato(B)

[A= A+B]

2.5 On basis of percentage of the crop:

Sequential System: The first crop is harvested before the second crop is sown. Example: Wheat-Rice system

Relay Cropping System: The second crop is sown even before the first crop is harvested and so on. In this system, a part of the crop life cycle coincides with another crop. Example: Maize-Potato-Chilli System

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