Maize/herbaceous legume inter-crops and soil properties in the Northern Guinea Savanna zone, Nigeria
2002
Odunze, A.C. | Iwuafor, E.N.O. | Chude, V.O.
Soils of the West African Savanna dominated by kaolinite clays are inherently poor in fertility, fragile, and rapidly degraded under continuous cropping and livestock production systems. To ensure sustainable production, causes of soil degradation must be checked and other sources of fertility provided for crops. To achieve this, the use of herbaceous and forage legumes intercropped with maize were evaluated. The study was conducted in Zaria, Nigeria (longitude 70 degrees 30' and 70 degrees 50' East, latitude 11 degrees 00' and 11 degrees 10' North), at the Ahmadu Bello University farm. Results show that the forage legume/maize treatments did not significantly deplete available soil moisture more than the sole maize treatment. Also, the legume/maize treatments resulted in positive carbon credits and higher total nitrogen content in the soils after two years of continuous cropping. Macrotyloma uniflorum, Stylosanthes hamata, and Lablab purpureus/maize intercrops did not reduce maize grain yields compared to the sole maize treatment. For sustained optimum grain yield of maize and improved soil conditions, Macrotyloma/maize intercrop treatment is recommended.
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