Agro-economic responsiveness of radish associations with cowpea in the presence of different amounts of Calotropis procera, spatial arrangements and agricultural crops

ABSTRACT The integration of research emphasizing sustainable development, employment, income generation and food security has been highlighted in the media. The objective of this research was to evaluate the agro-economic responsiveness of radish associations with cowpea in the presence of different amounts of roostertree, spatial arrangements and agricultural crops. The experimental design was a randomized block design with four replications, with treatments arranged in a 4 x 3 factorial scheme, where the first factor consisted of four amounts of C. procera incorporated in the soil (20, 35, 50 and 65 t ha-1 on a dry basis) and the second factor of three spatial arrangements (2:2, 3:3, and 4:4) in two cropping seasons. Radish samples were evaluated for plant height, dry mass of shoots, total and commercial productivity of roots, productivity of scrap roots, and dry mass of roots, while in cowpea, vegetation was assessed for length of green pods, number of pods per square meter, productivity and dry mass of green pods, number of green grains per pod, weight of 100 green grains, and yield and dry mass of green grains. The economic indicators of monetary advantage and modified monetary advantage were used in the evaluation of efficiency. A greater agro-economic responsiveness of the intercropping of radish and cowpea crops was obtained with the incorporation of 56.44 t ha-1 of C. procera. The spatial arrangements of 3:3 and 4:4 had better agronomic and economic responsiveness. The association between radish and cowpea is feasible when the crops are fertilized with C. procera.