Yield advantage and land use efficiency of bush bean - sorghum intercropping systems

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Research Field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur during rabi seasons of 2021-22 and 2022-23 to find out the suitable crop combination of bush bean with sorghum for increasing total productivity, economic return, maximizing land utilization through intercropping system. Six treatments viz., T₁= Sorghum normal row 100% (60 cm line to line × 20 cm plant to plant) + 1 row bush bean (30 cm line to line × 5 cm plant to plant; 43.75%) in between two rows of sorghum, T₂= Sorghum normal row 100% (60 cm × 20 cm) + 2 row bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm; 87.75%) in between two rows of sorghum  T₃= Sorghum paired row 100% (30 cm-120 cm-30 cm × 20 cm ) + 2 row bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm; 37.50%) in between two paired rows of sorghum , T₄= Sorghum paired row 100% (30 cm-120 cm-30 cm X 20 cm)   + 3 row bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm; 56.25%) in between two paired rows of sorghum , T₅= Sole sorghum (60 cm × 20 cm) and T₆= Sole bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm) were used. Light availability on bush bean decreased with the increase of shade produced by sorghum canopy over the time up to 65 Days After Sowing (DAS) (). The lowest light availability on bush bean was in T₂ treatment which was sorghum normal row 100% (60 cm × 20 cm) + 2 row bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm; 87.75%) in between two rows of sorghum. The maximum grain yield of sorghum was observed in sole crop 4.58 t ha^-1 and it was decreased by 2.84-20.74% among the intercrop combination. The highest sorghum equivalent yield (SEY) of 9.00 t ha^-1, gross return (Tk. 1,79,900 ha^-1), gross margin (Tk. 1,33,900 ha^-1) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) of 3.91 were obtained from T₂ treatment. The highest land equivalent ratio (LER) of 1.70 was also found in the same treatment. The results revealed that sorghum normal row 100% (60 cm × 20 cm) + 2 row bush bean (30 cm × 5 cm; 87.50%) could be agronomically feasible and economically profitable intercropping.

Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 50(4): 443-452, December 2025