Enlist the criteria for the selection of crops for mixed cropping.
Answer:
Mixed cropping is employed to minimise risk and as an insurance against crop failure due to abnormal weather conditions. The main criteria’s for selection of the crops for mixed cropping are as follows:
Duration of Crops: One of the crops should be a long duration and other should be a short duration crop.
Growth Habit: One of the crops should be growing tall and the other should be growing short. The component crops should have different canopy (i.e., the structure of leaves, stem and flowers found above the ground).
Nutrient Demand: One of the component crops should require lesser nutrients than the other crop.
Root Pattern: One of the crop should be deep-rooted while the other should be shallow-rooted.
Water Requirement: One of the component crops should require lesser water than the other.