Improvement of production and net economic return through intercropping of upland cotton with mungbean

Bangladesh has a glorious historic record in growing superfine quality cotton. The performance of mungbean inter-cropped in upland cotton cultivars was evaluated in the field of Cotton Research, Training and Seed Multiplication Farm, Sadarpur, Dinajpur 2011-2012 to find out the ways of improvement of production and net economic return through intercropping of upland cotton with mungbean. The treatments were; T1– Cotton cv Rupali 1/Mungbean cv BARI Mung-6, T2 -Cotton cv DM 1/Mungbean cv BARI Mung-6, T3 -Cotton cv CB 12/Mungbean cv BARI Mung-6, T4– Cotton cv CB 10-Mungbean cv BARI Mung-6, T5 -Cotton cv Rupali 1 (Sole), T6 -DM 1 (Sole), T7 -CB 12 (Sole), T8 -CB 10 (Sole) and T9 -Sole mungbean. The seed cotton yields did not respond significantly among the treatments of cotton-mungbean intercropping systems and sole cotton as well. The highest grain yield of mungbean (702 kg ha-1) was obtained from the sole mungbean than the other treatments because of the highest mungbean plant density. Mungbean intercropping with cotton produced the highest seed cotton equivalent yield, gross margin and gross return for local varieties as well as hybrid lines. The lowest gross return, gross margin and Benefit cost ratio (BCR) were obtained from the treatment of sole mungbean. Mungbean based intercropping in cotton would be ideal for increasing productivity and profitable benefit returns per unit land area, which ultimately encourage farmers for sustainable cotton cultivation in Bangladesh.