Record Details

Assessment of Nutrient and Biomass Yield of Medium and Long Duration Pigeon Pea in a Pigeon Pea-Groundnut Intercropping System in Malawi

Journal of Sustainable Society

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Assessment of Nutrient and Biomass Yield of Medium and Long Duration Pigeon Pea in a Pigeon Pea-Groundnut Intercropping System in Malawi
 
Creator Tenthani Phiri, Austin; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Msaky, John J; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Mrema, Jerome; Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
Kanyama-Phiri, George Yobe; University of Malawi, Bunda College of Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi
Harawa, Rebbie; Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
 
Subject —
Maize, pigeon pea and rotation groundnut, intercrop
 
Description Preliminary assessment of the performance of the medium and long duration pigeon pea in a pigeon pea-groundnut intercropping system was conducted at Chitedze Agricultural Research Station (S 130 59’ 23.2”, E0330 38’ 36.8”) in the 2011/2012 cropping season. An experiment involving eight treatments replicated three times in a randomized complete block design was established. Two pigeon pea varieties, long (ICEAP 04000) and medium duration (ICEAP 00557) and groundnut (CG 7) were grown as monocultures and intercrops. The intercrops involved planting either of the pigeon pea varieties with groundnut. Baseline soil data indicate that the soil pH was acid to moderately acid both in the top (mean=5.4-5.7) and the sub soil (mean=5.4-5.6) in all the treatment plots, with mostly low to marginally adequate total nitrogen content both in the top (mean=0.08-0.14%) and the sub soil (mean=0.09-0.13%). The soil organic carbon content was medium in the top soil (mean=0.9-1.6%) as well as sub soil (mean=1.1-1.6%) across the treatment plots. At the same time soil phosphorus was low to marginally adequate in the top soil (mean=16.8-27.6 mg kg-1) and marginally adequate in the sub soil (mean=20.8-25.6 mg kg-1), suggesting low soil fertility. The assessment of the above ground groundnut biomass indicate a mean yield range of 479-656 kg ha-1. While the assessment of the total biomass yield of the pigeon pea varieties indicate a mean yield range of 2,034-2,593 kg ha-1. In terms of estimated nitrogen yields returned to the soil, the medium duration pigeon pea-groundnut intercrop (mean=50.6 kg N ha-1) and the long duration pigeon pea-groundnut intercrop (mean=49.6 kg N ha-1) gave significantly (p<0.05) higher yields than by the monocultures of long duration pigeon pea (mean=41.1 kg N ha-1) and medium duration pigeon pea (mean=41.0 kg N ha-1). Statistically (p<0.05), the lowest amount of estimated nitrogen yield was generated by the groundnut sole crop (mean=12.8 kg N ha-1). Overall, the intercrops showed yield advantage (total LER >1.0) compared with the monoculture on equal land area. For the Malawian smallholder farmers, this suggests that mineral N supplementation in a legume-cereal rotation system for enhanced crop productivity might be less in the double legume-cereal rotation mode than in a legume monoculture-cereal rotation system.
 
Publisher World Scholars
 
Contributor —
 
Date 2013-05-30
 
Type —
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://wscholars.com/index.php/jss/article/view/291
10.11634/216825851403291
 
Source Journal of Sustainable Society; Vol 2, No 1 (2013); 36-48
 
Language en
 
Rights Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.World Scholars reserves the rights to retract any published manuscripts in the case of suspected plagiarism or any scientific misconducts. All requests for withdrawal of manuscripts before or after publishing will only be entertained if a formal written request is made to the editor of JSS. Approvals for withdrawal of manuscripts wholly depends on the consideration of the editor and the editorial board of JSS. No refunds for the manuscript publishing charges will be made in the event of withdrawal after the manuscript has been published.Copyrights for articles published in World Scholars journals are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.