Types of Multiple Cropping
The agronomist Darmpal classified Multiple Cropping Systems in the following ways-
- Monoculture: It is the growing of the same crop in the same field in a year. e.g., Rice after Rice, Jute after Jute.
- Duoculture: Two types of crops are grown alternately every year on a piece of land. e.g., jute after vegetable, Rice after vegetable.
- Polyculture: It combines more than two types of crops grown in sequence in a piece of land in a year.
Different Types of Multiple Cropping
- Pure stand multiple cropping: It is multiple in which the crops are grown successively in a definite period of the year in the unit of land possessed by farmers. In this Practice, each crop is sown and harvested separately with independent land preparation for each crop. e.g., Aus paddy → T. Amon → Lentil.
- Mixed type of multiple cropping: It is that kind of multiple cropping in which two or more crops are grown concurrently and mixed in the same season and the same piece of land. In mixed cropping, one crop is harvested after another, depending on its maturity period. E.g., Aus+B. Amon, Mustard+lentil, Barley+Rai.
- Intercrop type of multiple cropping: It is a kind of multiple cropping in which the same minor crop is grown between the space of major crops in an alternate pattern. e.g., In between two rows of sugarcane, a lentil can be sown.
- Relay type of multiple cropping: In this multiple cropping system, the second or minor crop is sown shortly before the harvest of major crops. e.g., Sowing of seeds of khesari in the field of T. Amon, sowing of seeds of watermelon in Rice field.