202 Journal of Oilseed Brassica, 6 (1) Jan., 2015 Growth, productivity and economics of coral-432 (Indian mustard hybrid) under different cropping systems S S Rathore*, Kapila Shekhawat, Amit Meena, and Dhiraj Singh ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur, Rajasthan 321303, India *Corresponding author: sanjayrathorears@gmail.com (Received: 16 Oct 2014; Revised: 25 November 2014; Accepted: 15 December 2014) Abstract An experiment was conducted on the performance of Indian mustard hybrid Coral-432 under semi-arid conditions during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 Rabi season at ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research (DRMR), Research Farm, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. Of the seven cropping systems (groundnut-mustard, cotton- mustard, soybean-mustard, pearl millet-mustard, sesame-mustard, cluster bean- mustard, and fallow-mustard) tested, maximum growth rates at 30-60 days after sowing (DAS), 60-90 DAS, and 90 DAS to harvest, respectively, were obtained under sesame-mustard, fallow-mustard, and pearl millet- mustard cropping systems. Among the yield attributes, the maximum number of primary branches, numbers of siliqua and 1000-seed weight were obtained under sesame-mustard, cluster bean-mustard, and fallow– mustard, respectively. Number of secondary branches per plant, number of seeds per siliquae and siliquae length were maximum under the pearl milletmustard cropping system. Maximum seed yield per hectare was obtained under the sesame-mustard cropping system. Key words: Crop growth rate, cropping system, economics, mustard hybrid, productivity Journal of Oilseed Brassica, 6 (1): 202-208, January 2015 Introduction Indian mustard is an important oilseed crop of India, cultivated in over 6.5 m ha with an annual gross production and average yield of 7.8 MT and 1208 kg/ha respectively (Anonymous, 2013). The mustard growing areas in India differ significantly in the agro-climatic conditions. In irrigated regions, mustard is grown with different crops in spatial (sequence cropping) and temporal (intercropping, mixed cropping etc.) adjustments. Due to adoption of improved mustard varieties, its production in the country has increased steadily during the last five years. But considering the demand supply gap of edible oil in India, there is still a huge growth potential in this segment. Mustard is important crop in rain-fed areas and in areas of low rain fall where farmers usually grow single crop of mustard by keeping their fields fallow during the Kharif rainy season. The development of hybrids in Indian mustard is new breeding strategy and the yield advantage of hybrids over the non-hybrid varieties may be harnessed by following the completely different package of practice in cropping system mode. The hybrid variety performs differently in mono-cropping, and than in mixed cropping system, possibly due to the difference in interaction of plant type, competition with weeds, root exudates, and rhizosphere microflora. The nature of interaction of the hybrids with other crops depends on many factors includes morpho-physiological traits, and on the root, shoots exudates. Little work has been done on the performance of mustard hybrid under different cropping systems. Although, hybrids have yield advantage over the existing non-hybrid varieties, the effect of their vigorous growth and development on other crops in intercropping, and in crop sequence, needs to be studied in detail. Coral 432 is a promising mustard hybrid, but its suitability under various cropping systems under semi arid conditions has not been studied in detail. Keeping this in view, a study was undertaken at the ICAR- DRMR research farm during 2010-11 and 2011-12, to determine performance of mustard hybrid Coral