Economics and productivity of apple-based agroforestry system for livelihood generation in North Western Himalaya, India

Abstract

Fruit tree-based agroforestry systems practiced in Himalayan region may play incredible role in improvement of livelihood, nutritional support and family income of small holding farming communities. With this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted at farmer's field in central part of Kashmir (J&K), India with an aim to determine growth and yield of various intercrops in apple-based agroforestry system. The study also assessed the profitability of apple-based intercropping over mono-cropping frameworks. For carrying out the experiment, four intercrops viz., rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris), green gram (Vigna radiata), french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and oats (Avena sativa) were grown with 11-year-old apple plantation. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with five replications comprising of seven treatments. The maximum number of primary branches (5.63), number of pods plant^-1 (17.32), pod length (13.92 cm), number of seeds pod^-1 (8.06), height of tillers (113.08 cm), average number of tillers m^-2 (218.13) were recorded under sole cropping while their lowest values were observed under agroforestry. The control french bean-oats displayed highest value of yield (1.53 t ha^-1). Maximum fruit yield (15.38 t ha^-1) was observed under apple + rajmash and oats. The total returns were found to be highest (Rs. 4,83,052 ha^-1) under apple + rajmash and oats. The trend for economic returns was observed as apple + rajmash and oats ˃ apple + green gram and oats ˃ apple + french bean and oats. The study can be useful for setting a statement and crop combination for the farming communities in the Himalayan region under apple-based agroforestry cropping systems.