~ 2848 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2020; 8(1): 2848-2853 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 www.chemijournal.com IJCS 2020; 8(1): 2848-2853 © 2020 IJCS Received: 22-11-2019 Accepted: 24-12-2019 Kumari Beauty Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Bikash Das ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Centre, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India PR Oraon Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Mahesh Kumar Dhakar ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Centre, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Corresponding Author: Mahesh Kumar Dhakar ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Centre, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Growth performance of silvi-horti-agricultural Systems under rainfed plateau conditions of Jharkhand Kumari Beauty, Bikash Das, PR Oraon and Mahesh Kumar Dhakar DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/chemi.2020.v8.i1aq.8701 Abstract The present investigation was carried out at ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Centre, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India during 2018-2019. It was undertaken in 4-year-old, already established silvi-horticultural system. The study was laid out in split plot design. Rice and Ragi were planted in main plot whereas, subplot consisted three different silvi-horticultural systems (Mango + mahogany + aonla, Mango + mahogany + peach and Mango + mahogany + no filler). Results revealed that the growth of filler crops showed significant effect on the silvi-horti-agricultural system. The growth performance of the main crop, filler crop and inter crops varied from one system to another under silvi-horti-agricultural system. The growth parameters viz. height, girth at breast height and crown spread of forest trees were significantly higher under silvi-horti-agricutural system than sole forest plantations. Height of intercrops was significantly higher in the fallow system whereas the plant density per m 2 and number of tillers per m 2 after 30, 60 and 90 DAS was observed significantly higher under silvi-horti-agricultural systems. Among the different silvi-horti-agricultural system, mango + mahogany + peach system performed best in terms of the growth performance of intercrops. Keywords: Silvi-horti-agriculture system, filler crops, fallow system Introduction Land-use options that increase livelihood security and reduce vulnerability to climate and environmental change are necessary. The agrarian scenario of eastern plateau and hill region of India is characterized by rainfed agriculture constrained with soil acidity, high rate of soil erosion, poor water holding capacity of soil (Nath et al. 2006) [5] . The low lands and the medium uplands are used for the rainfed rice production, whereas the uplands are seldom utilized for production of agronomical crops. These uplands are either used as open pasture or for social forestry as per the conditions. Further, due to the lower productivity of rainfed crops, growing agricultural crops is unprofitable under upland conditions. Fruit tree based production system can offer suitable option for profitable utilization of the uplands. Integration of horticultural plant species provides regular income to the farmers in addition to the production from agricultural crops during the early stages of tree establishment, whereas, silvicultural species provide income in later stage sustaining the long term productivity (Kaushik and Kumar, 2003; Cooper et al., 1996) [4, 1] . A combination of Prosopis cineraria and Ziziphus mauritiana grown in agri-silvi-horticulture system had very little effect on wheat yield as an agricultural crop, thus, this system may be replicated and proposed for greater benefits in terms of fodder, fruit and food production in the arid environment (Singh et al., 2012) [7] . The agri- silvi-horticulture system proved more remunerative in arid region (Pareek, 1998) [6] , whereas, trees provide natural fertilizer to restore soil health and increase crop yield (Singh and Rathod, 2006) [8] . Improved planting stocks of silvicultural and the horticultural tree species provide multifaceted benefits and minimize the risk of total failure of system productivity as in traditional agricultural system. However, selection of a better combination of silvicultural and horticultural species seems to be more crucial to enhance the land productivity and farmers economy as compared to single species. Hence, location-specific agro-forestry system models have to be developed for increasing water use efficiency, productivity and sustainability of the system.