Efficient energy utilization is essential for improving agricultural productivity and sustainability, particularly in energy-intensive crops such as sugarcane. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the energy use pattern and efficiency of sugarcane-based intercropping systems under semi-arid conditions of Karnataka. The study included different intercropping combinations with plant cane and ratoon cane and energy inputs and outputs were quantified using standard energy equivalents. Total energy input in plant cane ranged from 34,678 to 46,943 MJ per ha, while energy output ranged from 76,929 to 163,793 MJ per ha across different intercropping systems. Among the treatments, sugarcane intercropped with soybean at 1.2 m spacing recorded the highest energy efficiency (3.82) and net energy (120,889 MJ/ha), mainly due to higher energy contribution from soybean yield. In ratoon cane, total energy input varied from 29,934 to 34,604 MJ per ha and energy output ranged from 19,971 to 89,902 MJ per ha. The highest energy efficiency (2.61) and net energy (55,448 MJ/ha) were recorded in sugarcane intercropped with green pea followed by watermelon. Chemical fertilizers accounted for the highest share of total energy input, followed by seed material and irrigation. Wider row spacing resulted in reduced energy efficiency due to lower crop productivity. The results indicated that sugarcane-based intercropping, particularly with soybean and green pea, improves energy productivity and overall system efficiency compared to sole sugarcane. Therefore, sugarcane-based intercropping systems offer a viable strategy for enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability in semi-arid regions.
Nadiger et al. (Thu,) studied this question.