Comparative Study of Mango Based Agroforestry and Mono-Cropping System under Rainfed Condition of West Bengal

In India, the uncertainty of rainfed agriculture is high due to low and erratic rainfall, steep land slope and short cropping period. Objective of the study was to assess the effect of mango based agroforestry on productivity of cereal, oilseed crop and trees in highly degraded areas of West Bengal. This experiment was carried out on ongoing experiment plot of agroforestry systems at Regional Research Station of (B.C.K.V., started from 2007) Jhargram, West Bengal during two consecutive years i.e. 2014-15 to 2015-16. The experiment comprised two trees viz. gamhar (silvi tree) and mango (fruit tree) one cereal crop viz. maize and one oilseed crop viz. groundnut. The yield different entity was recorded and converted on per hectare basis. The highest yield i.e. groundnut equivalent yield was recorded 14.29 and 15.97 t ha-1 in Mango+ Gamhar+ Groundnut treatment during 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively, followed by Mango+ Gamhar+ Maize treatment. The lowest groundnut equivalent yield was recorded under maize mono-cropping treatment during two consecutive years. The highest gross return was recorded INR. 357334 and 478996 under Mango+ Gamhar+ Groundnut based system during 2014-15 and 2015-16, respectively. In this way mango based agroforestry system is more suitable and sustainable approach under rainfed condition as compared with mono-cropping systems.