Identification of Suitable Alternate Rabi Crops for Coastal Sands of Nellore District

Background: Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), is a leguminous crop which is widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics between 40°N and 40°S latitudes. It is valued for its high-oil edible seeds and as such it is the fourth most important source of edible oil and third most important source of vegetable protein in the world. Groundnut is not only an important oilseed crop of India but also an important agricultural export commodity. Cultivation of groundnut is an alternate occupation to fishing by the fisherman in the coastal sands. Farmers are cultivating groundnut after groundnut for the past two decades resulting in low income from the crop. Based on their demand a field experiment is planned to identify alternate crops which are remunerative to this tract Methods: Field experiment entitled “Identification of suitable alternate Rabi crops for coastal sands of Nellore district” was carried out for two consecutive years during rabi, 2017-18 and 2018-19 on farmer’s field at Srigowripuram, Vidavalur Mandal, SPSR Nellore district. Result: The mean performance revealed that all the crops produced less groundnut equivalent yields than groundnut crop. Groundnut pod equivalent yield was reduced by 4.60%, 71.25%, 90.14% and 55.78% in water melon, musk melon, onion and potato crops respectively. In terms of groundnut pod equivalent yield no crop is found superior to existing groundnut crop. With regard to alternate crops, the maximum groundnut pod equivalent yield (4941.50 kg ha-1) was noticed in water melon crop followed by muskmelon (1489.50 kg ha-1). Though higher gross and net returns were realized for groundnut (284955, 200695 Rs ha-1) B:C ratio was found to be maximum for water melon (3.48) due to low cost of cultivation Hence, water melon crop can be promoted as a remunerative crop alternate groundnut in coastal sands of Nellore district. Whereas, onion crop was found to be least in monitory returns crop with lower productivity in costal sands of Nellore district.