Evaluation of growth and yield of lemon grass varieties under Arecanut based agroforestry system in Konkan region

Abstract

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexuosus L.) is an aromatic grass belonging to family Poaceae.  The present investigation carried out to evaluation of growth and yield of lemon grass varieties under Aracanut based plantation in Konkan region of Maharashtra during year 2019-20 to 2021-22. The experiment consisted of 5 x 5 m of Ten year old Arecanut block plantation with combination of Six varieties of the lemon grass V₁ (Chirharita), V₂ (Nima), V₃ (CKP-25), V₄(Krishna), V₅(Praman) and V₆ (Kaveri ).  From the present investigation it can be result revealed that with respect to morphological growth and herbage yield parameter statically significant at 5 % level. The growth and yield parameters such as Plant height, Number of leaves, Number of tillers, essential oil content and herbage yield per plant and per hectare ,T1 (Krishna) variety of lemongrass shows better results when compared to other varieties. A significant variation in areca nut yield (t/ha) was observed among the six lemon grass varieties intercropped with Arecanut during the years 2019–20, 2021–22 and 2022–23 as well as in the pooled data. The results clearly demonstrate that the Krishna (V₄) variety had a pronounced positive influence on areca nut productivity in the intercropping system. Its superior performance across all years indicates a favorable growth compatibility and resource-use efficiency in the arecanut-based agroforestry system