Potential yield of corn, sweet potato and peanut in an alley cropping system with biomass incorporation and various crop combinations
2003
Asaduzzaman, S.M. (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Inst., Jessori-7400 (Bangladesh) Lasco, R.D. | Castillo, A.S.A. | Comia, R.A.
In the uplands or sloping areas, soil erosion is a serious problem which usually washes out essential nutrients from the upper to the lower elevation. The growth and yield of seasonal crops in these areas gradually deminish with time. Crop yield at lower elevation is usually higher. An attempt was made to sustain crop yield in the upper elevation. The first factor studied was biomass incorporation with soil such as 1.) biomass was applied in the upper one-third alley, 2.) biomass in the upper two thirds of the alley, and 3.) biomass spread evenly over the entire alley. The second factor considered was crop combination: a) corn as monocrop, b.) corn and sweet potato and c.) corn + peanut. In a 5-meter wide alley, six rows of corn were planted and in between each corn row, sweet potato or peanut was sown. The pattern of biomass incorporation did not affect corn yield. This result suggests that the farmer's practice of incorporating all crop residues evenly throughout the cropping alley is a sound one. However, for the intercrops, there was an effect only during the dry season. For peanut, yield was better when crop residues were incorporated in the upper one-third to two-thirds of the alley, whereas for sweetpotato, the opposite was true. The crop combination of corn intercropped with sweet potato out yielded corn grown alone or peanut grown with corn. The combined yield of corn and sweet potato amounted to 7.386 tons of grains and tubers during the wet season. When dry matter was included, the total yield potential was 10.713 tons per hectare
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