Intercropping Studies in Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) (Steud. Wats.)

Abstract

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus (Steud.) Wats) is a perennial, multicut aromatic grass, which yields an essential oil used in perfumery and pharmaceutical industries and Vitamin A, has a long initial lag phase. To utilize the crop growth resources more efficiently during this phase, studies were made to explore the possibility of intercropping food legumes with lemongrass. An experiment conducted during 1992-93 revealed that the food legumes like blackgram (Viyna mungo (L) Hepper), cowpea {Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp) or soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr.) could be intercropped in the initial stages of lemongrass to get extra yields over and above that of lemongrass, without affecting the yield of lemongrass.

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) growth rate, essential oil yield and composition as influenced by different soil conditioners under two watering regimes

“…The major components of the C. flexuosus oil in the two harvests in this study included citral (75.97–87.70 %), geranyl acetate (0.8–4.91 %), geraniol (0.8–4.26 %), isogeranial (1.83–3.45 %) and isoneral (1.29–2.78 %), which is in line with previously published papers [ 11 , 14 , 57 , 59 , 62 ]. Other compounds were recorded in minimal quantity accounting for less than 0.8 %.…”

Biomass Yield and Essential Oil Yield Variations in Java Citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt.), Intercropped with Food Legumes and Vegetables

“…Wats.) (Singh and Shivaraj 1998) and vetiver ( Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash.) (Pareek et al 1991) showed that food legumes can successfully be grown as intercrops in the initial lag phase of these crops without adversely affecting the yield of the main crop.…”