Pearl millet/cowpea cropping system yields and soil nutrient levels (original) (raw)

Abstract

Pearl millet [Penisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.] and cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] are important crops in traditional bush-fallow production systems in West Africa. Human population growth is forcing producers to consider alternative cropping systems and fertilizer application to meet food needs, by continuous, intercrop and rotational cropping systems on pearl millet and cowpea grain and stover yield, and maintaining soft nutrient levels. A long-term cropping system study with nitrogen applications of zero 20 and 40 kg ha-1 was initiated at the Cinzana Research Station near Segou, Mali in 1990. The field had a leached tropical ferruginous (Ustalf) soil. Nitrogen fertilizer application increased pearl millet and stover yield linearly per year, but had no effect on cowpea. Rotation with cowpea increased pearl millet grain yield by 17 to 31% each year between 1991 and 1995, but had little effect on cowpea yield. Intercropping reduced yield of both crops every year, but the Land Equi...

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