Integrated fodder and grain crops production on upland black clay soils (Vertisols)

In Ethiopia, livestock productivity is highly constrained mainly by feed shortage. The objectives of this experiment were to assess the possibility of sequential cropping of annual fodder legumes with chickpea under rain fed conditions on black clay soil (Vertisol) and explore the effect of these crops on grain yield of a succeeding cereal crop. The experiment was conducted on a heavy soil (cracking type clay, Vertisol) at two locations: Debre Zeit 1800 m altitude (9° N and 39° E, 45 km SE of Addis Ababa) and Akaki, 2200 m. (8° 45’ N and 39° E, 15 km SE of Addis Ababa). The experiment consisted of a rotation involving three phases: fodder (Phase I) (four annual legumes), pulse (Phase II) (chickpea) and cereal (Phase III) (durum wheat). The fodder and chickpea were grown sequentially over the main rainy season while wheat was grown in the following year. A split-plot in RCBD was used; the fodder and chickpea crops as the sub-plot treatments and four application rates of fertilizer N on wheat in the second year as the main-plot treatments. The result of the experiment over the three cycles showed most fodder species to have produced high quality fodder with dry matter yield of 2-5 t ha-1 . Chickpea, grown as double crop gave an average grain yield of 8-20 qha-1 . The precursor legume crops increased wheat grain yield over that obtained from plots that had been fallow in the preceding phase. This positive effect on wheat grain yield was not consistent over years and locations; nonetheless, the general trend indicated that wheat yield had been enhanced due to incorporation of fodder and grain legumes in the rotation. Overall, the study indicated that sequential cropping of annual fodder species and chickpea under rain-fed conditions on Vertisols as being technically feasible system with considerable promise to alleviate feed shortage at the smallholder farmer level. Moreover, the technology is deemed to offer an additional advantage of more efficient utilization of black clay soils in the medium and high-altitude highlands of Ethiopia.