Abstract

An investigation was carried out to assess the performance of custard apple (CA) in an intercropping system in alfisols of dryland at the All India Co-ordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture, Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra, Bangalore during kharif 2012 and 2013. The experiment consisted of 15 treatments viz., T1: CA+Finger millet, T2: CA+Fodder maize, T3: CA+Field bean, T4: CA+Niger, T5: CA+Chilli, T6: CA+Cowpea, T7: CA+Foxtail millet, T8: Finger millet, T9: Fodder maize, T10: Field bean, T11: Niger, T12: Chilli, T13: Cowpea, T14: Foxtail millet and T15: Custard apple alone. Among these, custard apple alone recorded significantly higher plant height (197.7 cm), number of branches/plant(3.3), collar stem diameter (11.3 cm), canopy spread/plant (231.33), biomass (1675.4 kg/ha), leaf litter (315.7 kg/ha), number of fruits/plant (17.8), fruit weight (395 g), fruit size (102.4 cm), fruit volume (314.1 cc), total soluble solids (32.5%) and higher fruit yield (314.1 kg/ha) followed by custard apple intercropped with foxtail millet and cowpea.