Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

  • Chief EditorV. Geethalakshmi

  • Print ISSN 0367-8245

  • Online ISSN 0976-058X

  • NAAS Rating 5.60

  • SJR 0.217, CiteScore: 0.595

Frequency :
Monthly (January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)
Indexing Services :
BIOSIS Preview, ISI Citation Index, Biological Abstracts, Elsevier (Scopus and Embase), AGRICOLA, Google Scholar, CrossRef, CAB Abstracting Journals, Chemical Abstracts, Indian Science Abstracts, EBSCO Indexing Services, Index Copernicus

Effect of Date of Sowing on Growth, Yield and Economics of Early Cauliflower-marigold Intercropping System

B. Chakraborty1,*, R.K. Sarkar1, M. Sarkar2, S. Basak1
1Regional Research Station (Terai Zone), Directorate of Research, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, P.O., Cooch Behar, Pundibari-736 165, West Bengal, India.
2Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Navsari Agricultural University, Waghai-394 730, Gujarat, India.

Background: Production of cauliflowers early in the season is always a challenging task for the farmers of plains due to prevalence of extreme temperature and/or heavy rainfall. Hence, early cauliflowers are predominantly cultivated in hilly tracts of India. Here, in this experiment, an attempt had been made to find out the optimum sowing time of early cauliflowers based on the growth and yield performances under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system in terai belt of West Bengal as offseason farming.

Methods: Four early cauliflower F1 hybrids (BN 50, Monsoon Queen, White Pearl and White Treasure) were sown starting from third week of April to first week of June at weekly interval and transplanted in a low-cost poly house using marigold (Pusa Narangi) as an intercrop with three replications. The entire experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with seven dates of sowing and four early cauliflower varieties. The experiment was conducted during 2022 and 2023 growing season. The results were summarized based on the pooled analysis of both the years.

Result: The pooled analysis have indicated that the cauliflower seeds sown during second week of May resulted maximum plant height, plant spread, number of leaves per plant, curd diameter, stalk length, gross plant weight, net curd weight, curd yield per plot and curd yield per hectare. However, the minimum days required to initiate the curd formation and the same for curd maturity were found in first week of May sown cauliflower plants. The overall performance of cauliflower varieties was found in following order Monsoon Queen > White Pearl >White Treasure > BN 50. The marigold plant transplanted during first week of June resulted best performance regarding growth, flowering and yield of flowers. The benefit: cost ratio of second week of May sown cauliflowers-marigold intercropping varied between 2.72 to 2.90.

Cauliflower is one of the most popular and nutritious winter vegetable grown in India (Kaur et al., 2023). It is rich in minerals like Ca, Mg, P and K and Vitamin C and B3. Hundred gram of cauliflower provides 21 kcal energy in our body (Butnariu and Butu, 2014). Now-a-days, cauliflowers are available almost round the yearin the markets. This is possible due to presence of a wide range of varieties that aresuitable for cultivation in early season as offseason farming. Early cauliflower fetches premium price in the market (Pandey et al., 2021). The curd initiation in early cauliflowers occurs between 20-25oC atmospheric temperature (Giri et al., 2023). Therefore, the sowing of early season cauliflowers is required to be started when atmospheric temperature rises at the end of winter (Pandey et al., 2021). However, presence of extreme heat and/or occurrence of heavy rainfall limit the cultivation of early cauliflower in the plains. Since, high temperature is sensitive and heavy rainfall is detrimental for cauliflower production (Poudel et al., 2017). Therefore, the optimum growing condition for cultivation of early cauliflower prevails only in lower to mid-hill parts of India (Bijalwan et al., 2024). Hence, till date, offseason cultivation of cauliflower during July to November is restricted only in the hilly parts of India (Shruhty, 2018; Bisht, 2022). Despite having several challenges, the farmers of foothill areas (terai belt) are very much interested to cultivate the early cauliflowers for gaining higher income. The atmospheric temperature of foot hill areas (terai belts) also remains favourable for growth and development of cauliflower to an extended period of time at the end of winter (Chatterjee and Mahanta, 2013). Introduction of off-season cauliflower also helps a farmer to establish a diversified cropping pattern in their landholdings.
       
However, risk factors are always associated with offseason vegetable production (Krishna et al., 2024). Intercropping is one of the best possible solutions to minimize the risk of crop failure. Intercropping helps to stabilize the yield and also minimizes the soil erosion (Mitra et al., 2021). Additionally, intercropping has better resource useefficiency as compared to monocropping (Mondal et al., 2018). Marigold is reported to be one of the ideal intercrop for the cauliflower (Ojha and Singh, 2003). Since, marigold can be cultivated throughout the year and it is one of the most popular loose flower grown in India (Kumar et al., 2019). Additionally, cultivation of marigold as an intercrop reduces the risk of pest attack in main crop (Mrnka et al., 2023). Further, there is a constant demand of marigold remains in the market throughout the year. Keeping this great possibility of cauliflower production commercially in terai belt during early in the season, this experiment was undertaken to find out the optimum time of sowing for the production of early cauliflowers under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system. The economics of the production is also worked out. 
The present investigation was carried out at Research Farm, Regional Research Station (terai zone), Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari during 2022 and 2023 growing season. Four early cauliflower F1 hybrids [BN 50 (V1), Monsoon Queen (V2), White Pearl (V3) and White Treasure (V4)] and marigold (Pusa Narangi) were sown starting from third week of April to first week of June at weekly interval in portrays. Thus, there were total seven weeks of sowing viz. S1 = Third week of April, S2 = Fourth week of April, S3 = First week of May, S4 = Second week of May, S5 = Third week of May, S6 = Fourth week of May and S7= First week of June. The cauliflower seedlings were transplanted at four leaf stage in a low-cost poly house [made of bamboo poles and frames with two-layer rooftop (upper layer 250 µ thickness transparent polythene sheet to avoid the impact of rain droplets and inner layer consists of 50.0% transmittance shade net and the side coverings with only 50.0% transmittance shade net)] at a spacing of   50 cm (P-P) x 1.0 m (R-R) in 2.0 m x 4.0 m = 8.0 m2 bed. The high row-row distance was maintained for cauliflower to accommodate the intercrop i.e., marigold plants. The marigold plants were also transplanted in the middle of cauliflower rows at spacing of 50 cm (P-P) x 1.0 m (R-R). Thus, in each 8.0 m2 bed, there were 16 cauliflower plants (in four rows) and 12 marigold plants (in three rows). Before transplanting, the polyhouse soil was well fertilized with 15.0 t ha-1 FYM and NPK @ 100:60:80 kg ha-1. All the recommended crop cultivation practices were followed time-to-time for both the crops during the investigation. Pinching operation was performed twice in marigold at 45 and 60 DAT (days after transplanting) to encourage more flowering. The growth and ancillary observations of cauliflower were recorded from five randomly selected plants planted in center two rows consisting of eight plants following standard procedures. The whole experiment was replicated in thrice. The experimental results were described based on the pooled analysis from data recorded in both the years. The observations on cauliflower were analyzed following Factorial Randomized Block Design (Factor 1: 7 sowing weeks: Factor 2: 4 varieties) and the observations on marigold were analyzed following randomized block design (Snedecor and Cochran, 1967). Cost of cauliflower cultivation is also calculated using cost concepts given by the expert committee (GoI 1980). The grossincome was calculated on the basis of curd (cauliflower) and flower (marigold) yield under 1.0 ha land area (The per plot yield was converted in one hectare), considering the selling price of cauliflowers (Rs.40.00 kg-1) and marigold (Rs. 15.00 kg-1) at farm level during harvesting seasons through rigorous survey of farmers field. Thebenefit cost ratio (BCR) was calculated using the following formula:
Performance of cauliflower under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system
 
The pooled results presented in Table 1 depicted that sowing dates significantly influenced the plant growth characteristics of cauliflower varieties. The cauliflower varieties sown during second week of May had resulted maximum height (45.48 cm) of the plant followed by plants sown during first week of May and third week of May. The lowest value for plant height was recorded in first week of June sown plants (30.17 cm). The cauliflower variety Monsoon Queen recorded maximum plant height (38.82 cm) followed by White Pearl, BN 50 and White Treasure. The combined effect of sowing dates and varieties on plant height revealed significant effect. The cauliflower variety Monsoon Queen sown during second week of May recorded the maximum plant height (47.40 cm). The results also revealed the significant effect of sowing dates on plant spread of cauliflower varieties. The maximum plant spread of 35.95 cm had been recorded in the plants sown during second week of May. The plants sown during first week of June registered lowest values of plant spread (22.92 cm). This might be due to the congenial growing condition prevailing during the month of May onwards for growth and development of early cauliflower, which promoted more vegetative growth in second week of May sown plants. The May sown plants were transplanted in polyhouse in the month of June. Similar result was also reported in early cauliflower variety Pusa Himjyoti (Thakur, 2015). Among the four cauliflower varieties, significantly higher value of plant spread (31.04 cm) was recorded in Monsoon Queen. Significant interaction effect of sowing dates and varieties was also observed for plant spread. The maximum plant spread (36.83 cm) was noted in second week of May sown plant in the variety Monsoon Queen.The results also revealed significant effect of sowing dates on number of leaves of the plant  (Table 1). The highest number of leaves (11.57) had been recorded for second week of May sown plants. Cauliflower sown during the month of May produced maximum number of leaves was also reported from plains of Bangladesh (Ara et al., 2009). The results are also in the line of the findings of Halim et al., (1999). The cauliflower variety Monsoon Queen recorded the highest values for number of leaves (11.51) as compared to the other varieties. Significant interaction effect of sowing dates and variety was recorded for number of leaves, where higher value for number of leaves (13.50) was recorded for second week of May sown plant in variety Monsoon Queen (Table 1). The genotypic differences existed within the early cauliflower varieties and that might be responsible for variation in plant growth characteristics (Sandhu et al., 2024).

Table 1: Effect of sowing dates on plant growth and curd parameters of cauliflower under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system.


       
Main and interaction effect of sowing dates as wellas varieties on curd parameters were studied (Table 1). There was a significant main and interaction effect of sowing dates and varieties recorded on days taken to curd initiation and curd maturity of cauliflower. The plants sown during first week of May registered minimum days required to curd initiation (47.09 DAS) and curd maturity (60.97 DAS). While, the maximum days taken to curd initiation and curd maturity was recorded from first week of June sown plants. The cauliflower variety White Pearl took minimum days to curd initiation (47.84 DAS) as well as curd maturity (61.60 DAS). The results also revealed the significant effect of sowing dates on curd initiation and maturity of cauliflowers. The cauliflower variety White Pearl when sown during first week of May recorded minimum days to curd initiation (45.80 DAS) and curd maturity (59.67 DAS). The results are in accordance with the finding of Chatterjee and Mahanta (2013). The yield attributing parameters like curd diameter, stalk length, gross plant weight and net curd weight of cauliflower were significantly affected by the sowing dates and varieties. The plants sown during second week of May had resulted curd with maximum diameter (11.83 cm), stalk length (2.38 cm), gross plant weight (1.34 kg) and net curd weight (396.48 g). The May sown cauliflower plant might undergone through a favourable atmospheric condition under shade net condition during the entire growth and development process and resulted maximum yield during May sown cauliflowers. While, the raising of atmospheric temperature from end of May might had a negative impact on plant growth and development and that might be responsible for poor yield in June sown cauliflowers. Cauliflower is known as highly thermo-sensitive cole crop (Singh et al., 2018). The vegetative and curd development phases significantly influenced by variations in atmospheric temperature (Rahman et al., 2013). The ideal time for production of early cauliflower in terai belt is reported to be in the month of May (Chatterjee and Mahanta, 2013). These results are also in close conformity with the findings of Singh et al., (2015) and Buragohain et al., (2024) on early cauliflower. All these parameters except stalk length were registered lowest in the plants sown during first week of June. The cauliflower variety Monsoon Queen performed best regarding curd diameter (10.64 cm), stalk length (2.15 cm), gross plant weight (1.26 kg) and net curd weight (395.45 g). Significant interaction effects of sowing dates and variety were also found for stalk length, gross plant weight and net curd weight. While, interaction between sowing dates and variety failed to influence any significant effect on curd diameter (Table 1).
       
The highest curd yield (6.34 kgplot-1;7.93 tha-1) was recorded from the plants sown during second week of May (Fig 1A) followed by the plants sown inthird week of May (6.04 kg plot-1; 7.55 tha-1). The lowest yield of curds was noted in plants sown during first week of June. Utilization of significant land area by the intercrop marigold might be responsible for a lower unit yield of cauliflower as compared to cauliflower monocropping.The results are in accordance with the findings of Agrawal et al., (2011). The variety Monsoon Queen exhibited the highest curd yield (6.33 kg plot-1; 7.91 t ha-1) followed by White Pearl (Fig 2B). The interaction effect of curd yield was also recorded to be significant and found that the variety Monsoon Queen sown during second week of May resulted the highest curd yield (6.61 kg plot-1; 8.27 t ha-1) (Table 2). A high degree of variations on yield characteristics in early cauliflower varieties is also reported earlier (Sandhu et al., 2024).

Fig 1: Main effect of sowing dates (A) and variety (B) on yield of cauliflower under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system. The vertical bar indicating the standard error (n=3) followed by the same letter are not significant to each other.



Table 2: Interaction effect of sowing dates and cauliflower on yield of cauliflower under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system.


 
Performance of marigold under cauliflower-marigold intercropping system
 
The pooled data presented in Table 3 indicated that the sowing dates significantly affected the plant growth and yield of marigold cv. Pusa Narangi. The first week of June sown marigold exhibited maximum height (59.67 cm), spread (46.83 cm) and branch plant-1 (25.0). Similar trend was also noted for yield parameters of marigold. The maximum flower diameter (5.08 cm), flower plant-1 (35.33), flower yield (404.33 g plant-1; 39.81 q ha-1) were registered in the plants sown during first week of June. All the parameters related to growth and yield of marigold were recorded minimum in second week of April sown plants. The second week of May sown marigold yielded 34.04 q ha-1 flowers. Marigold can be cultivated throughout the year (Kumar et al., 2019). In this experiment, the marigold bloomed with early-cauliflower intercropping during summer to rainy season. The results are in agreement with the findings of Kumar and Kumar (2017) and Kumar et al., (2012) in summer and rainy season marigold cv. Pusa Narangi, respectively.

Table 3: Effect of sowing dates on plant growth, flowering and yield of marigold var. Pusa Narangi.


 
Economics of cauliflower-marigold intercropping system
 
The economics cauliflower-marigold intercropping system was calculated only for the second week of May sown cauliflower (Table 4). Since, this period was found to be the best for sowing of early season cauliflower in this terai belt of West Bengal. The production cost of early cauliflower varied between Rs. 92942.00-92359.00/-. Similar production cost of cauliflower required in a medium to marginal farmis also reported by Kumari et al., (2021). Rupees 38042.00/- was required for theproduction of marigold. The amount spent for cultivation of marigold is following the similar trend as reported by Majumder et al., (2025). The total cost of production (cauliflowerand marigold) varied from Rs. 130984.00 to 130401.00/-. The total gross income of the early cauliflower-marigold intercropping was calculated as Rs. 381860.00 to 356660.00 in different cultivars of cauliflower. The net return of this intercropping system was near about double from production cost. The benefit: cost ratio of the early cauliflower-marigold intercropping system varied between 2.90-2.72. The results are inconformity with the economic analysis of cauliflower-marigold intercropping system as reported by Ojha and Singh (2003) and Mondal et al., (2018) in different parts of India.

Table 4: Production economics of early cauliflower-marigold intercropping system from second week of May sown cauliflower and marigold in 1.0 ha land area.

Cultivation of vegetable crops out of their normal growing season is always a profitable venture. Since, the demand of that particular vegetable in market always remains high and the produce are sold at higher price. Further, intercropping of main crop with another short duration, high value crop also reduces risk and adds some additional profit. Farming of early season cauliflower with minimum modification (like in low-cost protected structure) in terai belt has a very high prospect. This study finds out a better innovative option for the vegetable growers of terai belts in West Bengal to cultivate early cauliflower along with marigold in a low-cost protected structure during summer to rainy season for gaining higher income. This experiment also reports the best sowing time of early season cauliflower in terai belt of West Bengal is the second week of May.
All authors declared that their is no conflict of interest.

  1. Agrawal, M.K., Kar, D.S. and Das, A.B. (2011). Intercropping trial in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) cv. Snowball- 16. The Asian Journal of Horticulture. 6(1): 13-15. 

  2. Ara, N., Kaisar, M.O., Khalequzzaman, K.M., Kohinoor, H. and Ahamed, K.U (2009). Effect of different dates of planting and lines on the growth, yield and yield contributing characteristics of cauliflower. Journal of Soil and Nature. 3(1): 16-19.

  3. Bijalwan, P., Pandey, V., Rawal, J., Ranjan, R. and Pandey, H. (2024). Plastic mulch’s effect on cauliflower yield and yield attributing traits in protected structures in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. Agricultural Science Digest. 1-5. doi: 10. 18805/ag.D-5888.

  4. Bisht, A.S. (2022). Off-season Cultivation of Vegetable Crops in Hilly Regions of Uttarakhand. [Chauhan, A., Singh, N. and Joshi, K.K. (eds.)], Current Trends in Agriculture ISBN: 978-93-88854-82-5, Discovery Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi (India). pp. 178-190. 

  5. Buragohain, N., Gogoi, S., Kotoky, U., Phookana, D.B., Barua, P.K. and Kalita, P. (2024). Seedling growth, field performance and economics of production of early cauliflower as influenced by different sowing media and variety under greenhouse condition in Assam, India. Journal of Scientific Research and Reports. 30(6): 502-510. 

  6. Butnariu, M. and Butu, A. (2014). Chemical Composition of Vegetables and Their Products. In: Handbook of Food Chemistry. [Cheung, P. (eds)], Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. pp.1-49

  7. Chatterjee, R. and Mahanta, S. (2013). Performance of off-season cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) under agro shade net as influenced by planting dates and nutrient source. International Journal of Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology. 1(1): 56-62.  

  8. Giri, H.N., Sharma, M.D., Thapa, R.B., Pande, K.R., Khatri, B.B. and Jha, P.K. (2023). Growth and yield of late season cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L.) varieties in mid-hill region of Nepal. Agriculture Science Digest. 43(1): 63-67. doi: 10.18805/ag.D-342.

  9. GoI. (1980). Report of the special expert committee on cost of production estimates. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi, India.

  10. Halim, G.M.A., Ahmed, M.S. and Quadir, M.A. (1999). Growth and yield of cauliflower varieties as affected by planting time. Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Research. 24(1): 153-159.

  11. Kaur, D., Varma, S., Singh, V. and Kotiyal, M. (2023). Correlation coefficient and path analysis studies on various horticultural attributes of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis). Agricultural Science Digest. doi: 10.18805/ag.D 5693.  

  12. Krishna, H., Hebbar, S., Kumar, P., Sharma, S., Kumar, R., Tiwari, S.K., Maurya, S., Srivastava, K., Pal, G., Bahadur, A. and Behera, T.K. (2024). Navigating challenges and prospects in off- season vegetable production. Vegetable Science. 51 (Special Issue): 97-105.

  13. Kumar, A. and Kumar, A. (2017). Effect of bio-fertilizers and nutrients on growth and flower yield of summer season African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.). Plant Archives. 17(2): 1090-1092.

  14. Kumar, V., Singh, H.K., Kumar, A. and Pratap, B. (2012). Effect of planting distance and pinching on growth and flowering behavior of African marigold (Tagetes erecta) cv. Pusa Narangi in rainy season. Current Advances in Agricultural Sciences. 4(1): 79-81. 

  15. Kumar, V., Singh, R.S., Pal, M., Ojha, M.D., Verma, R.B., Verma, R.K., Kumar, N. and Singh, A.P. (2019). Growth and flower yield attributes of African marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) as influenced by planting geometry and varieties. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry. 8(1): 819-822.

  16. Kumari, R., Shekhawat, P.S. and Jain, S. (2021). An economic analysis of production of cauliflower in Sikar district of Rajasthan. Economic Affairs. 66(4): 535-542. 

  17. Majumder, P., Goswami, A., Munshi, S.K. and Sen, S. (2025). Prospect of Marigold Cultivation in Purulia District of West Bengal: A Way Forward Toward Socio-economic Sustainability. In: Management for Sustainable development: Integrating Social, Economic and Environmental Goals.  [Jain, V. and Mittal, A. (eds.)], Apple Academic Press, Inc. Co-published with CRC Press (Taylor and Francis). pp. 281-310.

  18. Mitra, S., Hossain, A., Brestic, M., Shalicky, M., Ondrisik, P., Gitari, H., Brahmachari, K., Shankar, T., Bhadra, P., Palai, J.B., Jena, J., Bhattacharya, U., Duvvada, S.K., Lalichetti, S. and Sairam, M. (2021). Intercropping system-A low input agricultural strategy for food and environmental security. Agronomy. 11: 343

  19. Mondal, S., Sarkar, M.M., Ghosh, T. and Maity, T.K. (2018). Effect of monocropping and intercropping of vegetable-flower components on production, economics and land use efficiency under sub-tropical zone of West Bengal, India. Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology. 26(6): 1-7. 

  20. Mrnka, L., Frantík, T., Schmidt, C.S., Švecová, E.B. and Vosátka, M. (2023). Intercropping of Tagetes patula with cauliflower and carrot increases yield of cauliflower and tentatively reduces vegetable pests. International Journal of Pest Management. 69(1): 35-45. 

  21. Ojha, P.K. and Singh, I.P. (2003). Effect of intercropping on the incidence of insect pests of cauliflower and its economics under Agro-climatic zone-I of Bihar. Pestology. XXVII(10): 22-25. 

  22. Pandey, A., Jha, N., Gaire, K.R., Thapa, G. and Karki, R. (2021). Economics of early-season cauliflower production and marketing in Dhading district of Nepal. Socio-economy and Policy Studies. 1(2): 66-70. 

  23. Poudel, K., Ansari, A.R. and Shah, M.K. (2017). Varietal evaluation of cauliflower for early season production in the eastern hills of Nepal. In: Proceedings of the Ninth National Horticulture Workshop. [Gautam, I.P. Shrestha, S.L. Subedi, G.D. Bhattarai, D.R. Gotame, T.P. and Upadhyay, K.P. (eds.)], May 31- June 1, 2017, NARC, HRD, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. pp. 316-319. 

  24. Rahman, H.U., Hadley, P., Pearson, S. and Khan, M.J. (2013). Response of cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) growth and development after curd initiation to different day and night temperatures. Pakistan Journal of Botany. 45(2): 411-420.

  25. Sandhu, S., Singh, N., Singh, G. and Singh, K. (2024). Correlation coefficient and path analysis in early cauliflower genotypes (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis). International Journal of Horticulture and Food Science. 6(1): 118-120.

  26. Shruthy, O.N. (2018). Possibility of growing cauliflower in the plains of southern Kerala. International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research. 9(9): 86-88. 

  27. Singh, B.K., Singh, B. and Singh, P.M. (2018). Breeding cauliflower: A review. International Journal of Vegetable Science. 24(1): 58-84.

  28. Singh, K.P., Kumar, R., Sohane, R.K. and Das, A.K. (2015). Performance of early cauliflower variety Sabour Agrim vis a vis different dates of transplanting in Arwal district of Bihar. Journal of Krishi Vigyan. 4(1): 84-87.

  29. Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G. (1967). Statistical Methods. 6th edn., Oxford and IBH Publ. Co., New Delhi. p 593.

  30. Thakur, B.S. (2015). Year-round production studies of cauliflower under mid hills of Himachal Pradesh. Journal of Horticulture. 2(4): 155. 

Editorial Board

View all (0)