Assessment of Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. var. saccharata) and Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.) Intercropping in the Nicobar District, India

Abstract

An on-farm trial was conducted during the kharif seasons of 2024 and 2025 at Big Lapathy, Tapoiming and Campbell Bay in the Nicobar district of India to assess sweet corn (Zea mays L. var. saccharata) and green gram (Vigna radiata L.) intercropping under organic farming conditions. The treatments comprised Pusa sweet corn intercropped with green gram at 1:1 (T1), Pusa sweet corn intercropped with green gram at 1:2 (T2) and sole Pusa sweet corn (T3), arranged in a randomised complete block design with four replications. The two-year mean results indicated that T3 recorded the highest fresh cob yield of sweet corn at Tapoiming (85.2 q ha-1), Big Lapathy (82.3 q ha-1) and Campbell Bay (89.5 q ha-1); however, these values were statistically at par with T1. T3 also recorded the greatest sweet corn plant height and cob length across locations, while the corresponding values under T1 remained comparable. For green gram, T1 produced the highest plant height and pod length at all locations. In contrast, T2 produced the highest green gram grain yield, recording 752 kg ha-1 at Tapoiming, 712 kg ha-1 at Big Lapathy and 874 kg ha-1 at Campbell Bay, mainly due to the inclusion of two rows of green gram. Intercropping treatments maintained relatively higher final soil NPK status than sole sweet corn. Economic analysis showed that T1 recorded the highest benefit-cost ratios across all locations, with BC1 values of 3.57, 3.42 and 3.73 and BC2 values of 3.30, 3.17 and 3.33 at Tapoiming, Big Lapathy and Campbell Bay, respectively. The findings indicate that a 1:1 sweet corn-green gram intercropping system can provide comparable sweet corn yield with additional green gram output and favourable economic returns under the studied conditions.