Sokoine University of Agriculture

Assessment of nutrient and biomass yield of medium and long duration pigeon pea in a pigeon pea-groundnut intercropping system in Malawi

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.author Phiri, Austin Tenthani
dc.contributor.author Msaky, John J.
dc.contributor.author Mrema, Jerome
dc.contributor.author Kanyama-Phiri, George Yobe
dc.contributor.author Harawa, Rebbie
dc.date.accessioned 2016-11-30T10:39:59Z
dc.date.available 2016-11-30T10:39:59Z
dc.date.issued 2013
dc.identifier.citation Journal of Sustainable Society Vol. 2, No. 1, 2013, 36-48 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/1032
dc.description.abstract 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 13 0 59’ 23.2”, E033 0 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. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Journal of Sustainable Society en_US
dc.subject maize en_US
dc.subject pigeon pea en_US
dc.subject rotational groundnuts en_US
dc.subject intercrop en_US
dc.title Assessment of nutrient and biomass yield of medium and long duration pigeon pea in a pigeon pea-groundnut intercropping system in Malawi en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.url DOI: 10.11634/216825851302360 en_US


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search SUA IR


Browse

My Account

Statistics