Effect of Legume Cover Crops on Soil Moisture and Orange Root Distribution

Mulinge, Jackson Muema; Saha, H. M.; Mounde, Lenard Gichana; Wasilwa, Lusike

doi:10.9734/ijpss/2017/32934

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The cover crops potentially improved water infiltration and limited soil evapotranspiration. These results are consistent with the findings of Mulinge et al (2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Mucuna pruriens, Crotalaria juncea, and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) have the potential for improving productivity of banana‐based systems in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Blomme¹,

Ntamwira²,

Ocimati³

2022

Legume Science

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Intercropping banana and shorter annual crops in small holder systems is inevitable despite shade being a limitation. Current production is also limited to the wet seasons. Strategies to exploit the spaces under banana shade and drier seasons are crucial for optimal production of these systems. We determined the performance of two legume cover crops, Mucuna pruriens and Crotalaria juncea, and chickpea (Cicer arietinum), a grain legume, under different banana shade levels and over the wet and dry seasons in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Banana and legume monocrops served as controls. Shade reduced weed biomass and legume root nodulation, biomass, and grain yields. Chickpea root nodulation had a lower sensitivity to shade (3-9% reduction) compared with mucuna (30-60%) and crotalaria (31-71%).Legume biomass yield declines varied from 37-83%, 56-93%, and 80-98% for mucuna, crotalaria, and chickpea, respectively. Higher nodulation occurred in the rainy compared with the dry season. Biomass yield declines, albeit low occurred in the dry season for mucuna (15%) and crotalaria (30%). In contrast, chickpea biomass and grain yields increased by 394% and 4487%, respectively, in the dry season. A higher banana vegetative growth occurred in the intercropped plots. Land equivalent ratios of 1.15-1.34 under dense shading for mucuna and crotalaria and 1.10-1.62 for chickpea occurred irrespective of the seasons. These findings suggest that these cover crops and chickpea could be exploited to enhance biomass (for fodder, mulch, or manure) and grain yields under banana shade and over the drier seasons.

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“…The cover crops potentially improved water infiltration and limited soil evapotranspiration. These results are consistent with the findings of Mulinge et al (2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Mucuna pruriens, Crotalaria juncea, and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) have the potential for improving productivity of banana‐based systems in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Blomme¹,

Ntamwira²,

Ocimati³

2022

Legume Science

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“…As observed in annual cropping systems, there is potential for legume cover crops to support tree crop seedling growth by supplying N for plant uptake after legume termination (Mulinge et al., 2017). Similarly, biocrusts could also affect plant growth in sandy soil agroecosystems by increasing N availability in the root zone below biocrust (Nevins et al., 2020b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting effects of agroecosystem biocrusts on seedling growth and nitrogen accumulation in a greenhouse environment

Nevins

Strauss

Inglett

2022

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

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Biological soil crust (biocrust) communities of bacteria, fungi, lichen, algae, and bryophytes were recently shown to release nitrogen (N) to the crop root zone in agroecosystems. While biocrusts in semi‐arid and dryland ecosystems have neutral, negative, and facilitative effects on plants, it is not known how agroecosystem biocrusts affect crop N accumulation and growth. Like biocrusts, legume cover crop associations with N‐fixing bacteria can increase soil N after termination, potentially supporting primary crops. This research compared the effects of biocrust application to a legume cover crop (cowpea; Vigna unguiculata) on citrus (Citrus sinensis) rootstock seedling growth, root system, and N accumulation. Seedling biomass, N accumulation, and stable N isotopic ratios (δ15N) were quantified after 29 and 120 d. Sampling date and amendment type had significant effects on seedling biomass, N content, root biomass distributions, and δ15N (p < .05). Seedlings with cowpea had less biomass than seedlings with biocrust or no amendment after 29 d. After 120 d, seedlings with biocrusts had significantly less biomass than seedlings with cowpea or no amendment (p < .05). Furthermore, seedlings without an amendment had significantly greater total root length than seedlings with an amendment (p < .05). Seedlings with biocrust had significantly less total N than seedlings with cowpea or no amendment despite having significantly lower plant δ15N (p < .05). These δ15N values indicated biocrust and cowpea were potentially N sources for seedlings. Overall, cowpea initially inhibited seedling growth, and biocrust had neutral and negative effects on seedling growth after 120 d.

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Effects of compost, olive mill wastewater and legume cover cropson soil characteristics, tree performance and oil quality of olive trees cv.Chemlali grown under organic farming system

Chehab

Tekaya

Ouhibi³

et al. 2019

Scientia Horticulturae

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Effect of Legume Cover Crops on Soil Moisture and Orange Root Distribution

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

Mucuna pruriens, Crotalaria juncea, and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) have the potential for improving productivity of banana‐based systems in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Mucuna pruriens, Crotalaria juncea, and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) have the potential for improving productivity of banana‐based systems in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Contrasting effects of agroecosystem biocrusts on seedling growth and nitrogen accumulation in a greenhouse environment

Effects of compost, olive mill wastewater and legume cover cropson soil characteristics, tree performance and oil quality of olive trees cv.Chemlali grown under organic farming system

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