Four ‘Bio’ Traits Craft Pigeonpea (Cajanus Cajan (L.) Millsp) to Survive in a Dry Soil Environment under Intercropping Situation -A Review

Abstract

The climate of the rainfed tropics is complex in nature and intercropping aids in reducing the great peril of cropping under such
conditions. Dryland or rainfed crops produce low economic yield and soils are eroded with diminishing soil fertility, hence it is timely
to select an anchor crop for intercropping situations by reviewing various research publications.
This work has been carried out at the Agronomy Department, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai India. A
methodical cum integrative review of past work done elsewhere, particularly in India was figured out. Nearly 200 research articles were
scanned from different databases and 112 papers were utilised to write this review.
This review article comprehensively documents the uniqueness of pigeon pea, being a long-duration legume having advantages like
soil fertility enhancement, multiple harvests, etc., over annual short-duration crops and how it could be called an anchor crop under
intercropping systems. And hence, the inclusion of drought-resilient pigeon peas for sustaining soil health and farm productivity under
intercropping systems in semi-arid alfisol would be ideal.