Crop combinations

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Crop combinations

There are three types of Agroforestry systems namely, Agrisilvicultural, Agrihorticultural and Agrihortisilvicultural.

Among the above three systems Agrihortisilvicultural is highly diverse in vegetation, with many tree and agricultural crops mixed together resulting in highest productivity of total aboveground biomass per hectare per year.

Models Crop Combinations

1 Agri-Silviculture - Casuarina + Maize / Fodder Sorghum / Pulses

Casuarina + Vegetables (Chillies / Tomatoes / Pumpkin / Groundnut)

2 Horti + Silvi - Casuarina + Mango

Casuarina + Coconut

Casuarina + Banana

Casuarina + Teak + Papaya

Casuarina + Drumstick + Hybrid Tomato

Casuarina + Tamarind + Drumstick

Casuarina + Teak + Eucalyptus + Guava

3 Silvipasture - Casuarina + Napier grasses

4 Bund Planting - Casuarina as Wind Breaks

5 Block Planting - Block planting of Casuarina

6 Line / Boundary Planting Boundary planting in single as well as double rows.

Casuarina + Teak on Boundary

Casuarina + Coconut as line planting

7 Homestead Multi-storeyed Cropping System - Teak / Casuarina / Banana / Vegetables.

Please see the comments section below this post for more details regarding "Tree crop combinations" diagram uploaded here under:

Regards,

A.Vishnu Sankar

6 Comentários:

Sathiya .A said...: Dear Vishnu

Need your expertise help from you for tree plantation.
After regular search in the Internet (with the help of your posts also),I found some of the Fast growing trees below,need advise from you on selecting those trees.
We are having five acres of land on that we are shifting from paddy and sugarcane to tree plantation.would also like to know that shall we plant these plants in the same land(different rows)?. what is the spacing required if we are mixing these plants in the same field.

Kumil(Gmelina Arborea)
Malia Vembu(Melia Dubia)
Kaya Senegalensis (kaya Senegal mahogany)
Anthrocephalus cadamba (vellai kadhambu)-looks good
Casuarina Junghuniana ( Junguniana Savukku)
Bamboo -Tissue culture
(malocanna bacciefera,Bambusa nutans,B Bamboos,B tulda, B.vulgaris,B Balcooa)
Grewia tiliaefolia(Thadasu,Sadhaci)
AlbiZia falcataria (kattumaram)
Tectona Grandis (Teak).

Thanks in advance

Regards

Sathiya.A; June 6, 2012 at 11:26 PM
Vishnu Sankar A said...: Dear Sir,

Thank you for visiting my blog. I request you to go thro' the following links before going all out to plant trees:

My today's post on: Anthocephalus cadamba.
Timber tree selection - A check list.

There is no fixed rule or records to suggest correct crop combinations (i.e). planting 3 or more tree species in the same plot.

You can maintain a spacing of 10' x 10' for Melia dubia, Kumil and Kaya in alternate rows and in the middle of every row you can plant C.junghuhniana every 5' in single direction. See this link.
(http://agrowmania.blogspot.in/2010/04/melia-dubia-tamil-malai-vembu.html)

There will be competition for available resources if you mix Bamboo, Grewia and Albizia in the above plan. Teak can be planted separately and regarding Kadamba more details about your field location, soil type, soil depth, humidity, irrigation potential Etc., are required.

Thanking you,

Yours friendly,
A.Vishnu Sankar; June 7, 2012 at 12:13 AM
Sathiya.A said...: Dear Vishnu

Thank you..Thank you for your suggestions.

The Land is located in Tamil Nadu near.....
The soil is sand mixed with little clay and the PH range is from 6.8 to 8.1 from different plots. no water logging.

Would also like to know where I could get the Tree saplings for the below in Tamil Nadu.

Melia dubia.
Kumil
Kaya
Anthocephalus cadamba
C.junghuhniana (tissue culture available ?)
Teak ( tissue culture available)

Please suggest

Thanks & regards

Sathiya A; June 7, 2012 at 2:19 AM
A.Vishnusankar said...: Dear Sir,

Please see this link (http://www.agrowmania.blogspot.in/2009/05/crop-combinations.html#comment-form), where I have uploaded a planting pattern diagram exclusively for your reference.

Thanking you,

Yours friendly,
A.Vishnu Sankar; June 7, 2012 at 10:06 AM
Unknown said...: Dear Vishnu,
Thank you for your swift response, this really motivates me.
Just to summarize I finalized my plan to go for Multi-storey Cropping System as suggested by yourself

1) Melia dubia by spacing 10’X10’
2) C.junghuhniana spacing 5’X15’ which is in-between Meli dubia & Kumil
3) Kumil by spacing 10’X10’
4) Boundary Planting Boundary planting in single as well as double rows (C.junghuhniana & T.C Teak)

Please help to understand the boundary plantation who to do that in single as well as double rows please explain what is the spacing required for single & double ?

Thanks in advance

Regards
Sathiya A; June 7, 2012 at 8:36 PM
A.Vishnu Sankar said...: Dear Sir,

I am happy that you have got it correct.

Correction: Spacing between one row of C.J with another row of C.J will be only 10' and not 15' as you presume. Spacing between plant to plant in East - West direction will be 5' and row to row in North-South direction will be 10' only.

Suggestion 1 : If you select C.J as border crop and wants to retain it for a long period of time, then it is correct. But if you have plans to harvest it in 3 to 4 years then there will be wide gap in the field boundary. Going for two rows of CJ in zigzag fashion with 5' x 5' spacing or a single row with 4' spacing is good. Please note that tree plantations normally won't require double row of plants as wind breakers.

Suggestion 2 :The other option is planting Gliricidia as fence in a single row with 3' spacing. It is a good wind barrier, very high leaf mulch provider (4 harvests/Year) and a 'N' fixing tree. The only negative aspect is that you will not be able use harvested branches of Gliricidia for any other purpose other than for mulching.

Thanking you,

Yours friendly,
A.Vishnu Sankar; June 7, 2012 at 11:03 PM

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Kind note to our respected readers:

Feedback :

........ Thanks Mr.Visnu, I have been watching your constant interaction with tree growers through internet. ....... Keep it up. ..........May be you can help me in making my ideas to reach growers through you. Wishes. Dr.G.Kumaravelu, Former PCCF, Former Member, State Planning Commission, Chennai.

Dear Mr Vishnu Shankar, Thank you for the efforts. A good encouragement to the scientific efforts of IFGTB. I am confident that our efforts and service to support the tree farming will grow. Thank you once again. Dr. N. Krishna Kumar, Director, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.

Dear Mr.Vishnu Sankar, We have seen your comments made on 'TCPL Component of TBGP project'. Necessary actions are being taken to implement the TCPL Component in better manner at our level. Thanks for your observation made on the TBGP project. With regards, V.Irulandi, I.F.S., APCCF, Social Forestry and Extension, CDM & Project Director, TCPL, Tamilnadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project, Tamilnadu, India.

Dear Vishnu Sankar, .....Very interesting to go through your blog. Trees are money spinners to the farmers at present.It is only the right type of tree species for the right place and silvicultural packages can do so. (Click: Money Spinning Trees) Contact me with full details on soil, rainfall, water source, resource availability etc., and i could suggest trees that could spin money in these areas. Thank you, From, K.Suresh, Prof & Head, Dept. of Agroforestry, Forest College & Research Institute, Mettupalayam 641 003, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.

Dear Mr.Sankar, I have seen your message on energy plantation and thanks for the promotional efforts. (For more info: Click 1 and Click 2.) To add to your view,I wish to inform that Forest college has already designed contract farming models exclusively for dendrobiomass based power generation. These modes are now successfully implemented through Auromira energy company now slowly. With kind regards, Dr. K. T. Parthiban, Ph. D., Associate Professor (Forestry), Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam 641 003, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.

Agroforestry - A blog on Agrihortisilviculture

Saturday, May 30, 2009