Revamping soil quality and correlation studies for yield and yield attributes in sorghum-legumes intercropping systems

Abstract

Restoration, preservation and sustainability of agricultural resources including soil demands biologically and economically viable farming practices. For boosting physico-chemical properties of soil from 2012 to 2015, three legumes including cowpea, cluster bean and soybean were intercropped with sorghum in 40-60, 75-25 and 100-100 seed blending ratios, while pure stand of sorghum was kept for comparison. Correlation studies were also conducted to determine linear or inverse relationship between physiological and agronomic attributes with green forage yield of sorghum. Results revealed that intercropping systems were not effective in significantly improving the physical properties of soil, however soybean and sorghum mixed seeded crop in 100-100 seed ratio resulted in the highest total and available nitrogen especially during last two years of the study and it was followed by mixed seeded crop of cluster bean and sorghum (100-100 seed ratio), while pure stand of sorghum appeared to be the most exhaustive farming system. Correlation analysis depicted a linear relationship between all agronomic attributes (seedling count, plant population at harvest, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf area per plant, fresh and dry weights per plant) and physiological growth parameters (leaf area index and leaf area duration, crop growth rate and net assimilation rate) with forage yield of sorghum. Thus, legumes inclusion was found to be effective in restoring soil fertility, while long term legumes inclusion by following rotation may be suggested.

Forage sorghum-legumes intercropping: effect on growth, yields, nutritional quality and economic returns

“…In addition, soil fertility is improved when legumes are intercropped with cereal forages (Iqbal et al 2018c). Cereal-legumes intercropping systems improve nutrient utilization (Ghosh et al 2006) as different crops have varied root lengths and in this way nutrients are absorbed from different soil horizons (Shivay and Singh 2000;Ghosh et al 2007).…”

Weeds Spectrum, Productivity and Land-Use Efficiency in Maize-Gram Intercropping Systems under Semi-Arid Environment

“…The soil organic matter (OM) was estimated by following Walkley-Black methodology [24]. For estimating total nitrogen (N) content, distillation in Kjeldahl apparatus was performed that was followed by titration with the concentrated H 2 SO 4 [25]. Additionally, Olsen's method (0.5 N NaHNO 3 at 8.5 pH by maintaining soil: extractant ratio of 1:10) using spectrophotometer at 882 nm wavelength in a sulfuric acid system) was used for determining the available phosphorous (P) content [26], while standard procedure (ammonium acetate extraction involving air dried soil samples shaking with 0.5 M ammonium acetate solution for 30 min which effectively displaced positively charged K ions that were determined using flame photometer) as outlined by [27] was put into use to calculate potassium (K).…”

Cactus Pear: a Weed of Dry-Lands for Supplementing Food Security Under Changing Climate

“…Digestibility of cactus pear is directly dependent on the age of cladodes. The digestibility of cactus pear dry matter (70-82%) tend to be higher owing to low lignin content (50-80 g kg -1 of dried matter) (De Wall et al, 2013) compared to forage sorghum (112-180 g kg -1 of dried matter) (Iqbal et al, 2018a, b, c) and canola (110-129 g kg -1 of dried matter) (Iqbal et al, 2018d). The crude protein content is low (4-8%) with high fiber content (9-20%).…”