The effects of relative planting dates of legumes on productivity of cassava - legume intercrop
type: CreativeWork
description: Crop production in the Limpopo Province of South Atrica is limited by inadequate rainfall and poor soils, particularly in the smallholder sector. The incorporation of cassava into the existing cropping systems could be beneficia!. However, cassava is a long duration erop that develops slowly during its early growth stages. Therefore, it may be necessary to introduce legumes that will grow and be harvested before cassava matures. lnclusion of legumes in cassava legume intercropping systems not only helps in improving soil fertility through biologica! nitrogen fixation and solubilisation of phosphorus but also provides compensation tor food security and income generation as cassava reaches maturity. However, there is inadequate information regarding the optimum time to introduce legumes into cassava cropping systems under specific agro-ecological conditions. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of relative planting date of legumes on the productivity of cassava-legume intercrop. Field experiments were conducted during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 cropping seasons in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province and Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Province. The experiments were laid out in a split-plot design with legume planting dates (same time with cassava, two weeks after cassava and tour weeks after cassava) as the main plots replicated 3 times and five cropping systems (cassava sole, chickpea sole, cowpea sole, cassava-chickpea and cassava-cowpea) as the subplots. Plant height, number of primary and secondary branches and stem diameter were measured tor cassava trom 3 months after planting until 10 months after planting. For legumes plant height were taken tor growth starting trom 8 weeks after planting until physiological maturity. Yield and yield components tor cassava such as root weight, root diameter, root length, shoot weight and number of roots was measured at 10 months after planting. Yield and yield components tor legumes such as shoot biomass, number of pods per plant, number of…
abstract: Crop production in the Limpopo Province of South Atrica is limited by inadequate rainfall and poor soils, particularly in the smallholder sector. The incorporation of cassava into the existing cropping systems could be beneficia!. However, cassava is a long duration erop that develops slowly during its early growth stages. Therefore, it may be necessary to introduce legumes that will grow and be harvested before cassava matures. lnclusion of legumes in cassava legume intercropping systems not only helps in improving soil fertility through biologica! nitrogen fixation and solubilisation of phosphorus but also provides compensation tor food security and income generation as cassava reaches maturity. However, there is inadequate information regarding the optimum time to introduce legumes into cassava cropping systems under specific agro-ecological conditions. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of relative planting date of legumes on the productivity of cassava-legume intercrop. Field experiments were conducted during 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 cropping seasons in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province and Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Province. The experiments were laid out in a split-plot design with legume planting dates (same time with cassava, two weeks after cassava and tour weeks after cassava) as the main plots replicated 3 times and five cropping systems (cassava sole, chickpea sole, cowpea sole, cassava-chickpea and cassava-cowpea) as the subplots. Plant height, number of primary and secondary branches and stem diameter were measured tor cassava trom 3 months after planting until 10 months after planting. For legumes plant height were taken tor growth starting trom 8 weeks after planting until physiological maturity. Yield and yield components tor cassava such as root weight, root diameter, root length, shoot weight and number of roots was measured at 10 months after planting. Yield and yield components tor legumes such as shoot biomass, number of pods per plant, number of…
author: Legodi, Khutso Debra
language: en
keywords: Cassava, Legumes, Intercropping, Planting dates, Productivity, UCTD
date published: 2017-08-18
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:57:35Z
provider: University of Venda
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Venda

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11602/984