Intercropping Desmanthus virgatus with agricultural crops in the hillylands of Ilocos Norte (Philippines)
1995
Malab, S.C. | Pastor, F. | Rosario, J. (Mariano Marcos State Univ., Batac 2906, Ilocos Norte (Philippines))
The potential of Desmanthus virgatus as hedgerows in agroforestry systems in the semi-arid hilly lands of Ilocos Norte [Philippines] was evaluated over a four-year period. As a hedgerow, the plants were planted at intra-row spacing of 10 and 20 plants/linear on and looped to a height of 50, 75 and 100 cm above the ground. The yield and yield components of agricultural crops planted in between the hedgerows were recorded every planting season. Desmanthus plants established at wider spacing were significantly taller and had bigger stem diameter. The biomass yield of the plant, however, was not affected by plant density but looping the hedgerows 50 cm above the ground produced more green biomass than those cut beyond 50 cm. Succeeding observations confirmed that biomass yield was not affected by intra-row spacing, but cutting the plants to a height of 50, 75, and 100 cm above the ground did not produce significantly different amount of biomass. The organic matter content of the soil in between the hedgerows one year after the establishment of hedgerows was significantly higher in alleys between the 20 and 30 cm intra-row-spacing. The grain and grain yield of corn and mungbean, however, were not significantly affected either by spacing, and cutting height of the hedgerows. Likewise, the grain yield of three upland rice varieties, UPL Ri5, UPLRi7 and Maluit (native variety) was not significantly different from each other. Collectively, the four-year results confirmed that D. virgatus has a high potential as hedgerow. The plant can be established at 20-30 cm in intrarow spacing and cut to a height of 50-100 cm without significantly reducing the grain yield of intercrop corn, mungbean and rice. D. virgatus plants produced a 16 t/ha (fresh) biomass every year
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