Yield and yield components of intercropped dual-purpose lablab and cowpea with maize of contrasting maturities

Abstract

Intercropping is a way to intensify agricultural land use. Cowpea is an important crop in the traditional farming systems in northern Nigeria because it serves to provide food and feed. Although lablab has potential to function in these ways, it remains an underutilized crop because among other factors, there is dearth of information on its incorporation into the system by way of intercropping it with the major cereal crops. A field trial was conducted at Samaru (11º 11'N, 07º 38'E, 686 m asl) in northern Guinea savannah of Nigeria, to evaluate the relative yield and yield components of dual-purpose lablab and cowpea cultivars when gown sole and when intercropped with maize of contrasting maturities. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with four replications. The experiment consisted of early maize maturing cultivar (TZE COMP. 5 W) and a late maize maturing cultivar (TZL COMP. 1 SYN). Cropping system (intercropping and sole cropping) was assigned to the main plot and crop cultivar (lablab: ILRI 4612, NAPRI 2 and cowpea: IT89KD-288, IT99K-241-2) was assigned to subplots. Results showed that intercropping cowpea or lablab into early maturing maize cultivar was more productive than intercropping into late maturing maize cultivar for number of pods ( -1 ), meaning that both legumes have potential in providing food and feed with lablab producing more fodder and cowpea more grain. Land equivalent ratio showed that intercropping advantage was higher when lablab and cowpea were intercropped with early maturing maize cultivar (1.34, 1.24) than with late maturing maize cultivar (1.10, 1.15). It is recommended that for higher lablab or cowpea/maize productivity in an intercrop, farmers should intercrop dual-purpose cultivars of these crops with maize of earlier maturities.

Dual‐purpose crops for grain and fodder to improve nutrition security in semi‐arid sub‐Saharan Africa: A review

“…On sandy clay soil in Cameroon, Tchiagam et al (2010) reported 892 kg ha −1 and 1369 kg ha −1 as grain and fodder yields, respectively. Similarly, on loamy soil, Ewansiha et al (2017) found average grain and fodder yields of 1260 kg ha −1 and 2446 kg ha −1 , respectively in Nigeria. The DP cowpeas are grown either in monocropping systems or in association or in rotation with cereals crops (Singh et al, 1997).…”