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Nitrogen Management in Sorghum/Pigeonpea Intercrop

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/4769/
 
Title Nitrogen Management in Sorghum/Pigeonpea Intercrop
 
Creator Adu-Gyamfi, J J
Ito, O
 
Subject Pigeonpea
Sorghum
 
Description Conriderable gaps remain in our undmtanding of the extent to which nitrogen
IN) fertilizer application in cereal/legume intercropping sytems could be synergistic
in term of maximizing biological nitrogm fixation (BNF) by the le.
gurne, and optimizing grain yield of the cereal component. There is a high
potential to inneuse the grain yield of ~orghuma nd enhance BNF by pigeonpea
through intercropping, without greatly innearing the use of fertilizer N. This
review suggesrs thut: ( I ) Medium-durotion pigeonpea can reduce t k Kr; ferrtlization
needs of sorghum bv 50% in a sorghum/pigeonpea intercrop. (2) Split-
&&? of modest N rates is a sound strategy to increme X-use efficienq, and to
enhance BNF by pigeonpea in the semi-arid tropics. This is because of the
k t yr a i t~ha t a no cwr at the owet ofthe rainy season, leading to a substantbl
downward water Pou, coupled with the innensed chance of water deficits
during the growing searon. (3) In areas where soil mineral ?\: is relaricely high
so as to suppress BNF by legumes, interrropping cereals with legumes is rtital to
reduce the inhibitoh. effects of soil Tu' on BNF. This is supported by the
experimental evidence that starter doses of 20-25 kg N ha.' suppressed BNF
by sole-cropped, but nor ~nterc~oppepdi geonpea. (4) lnternopped legumes
removed less N from the soil than their respectitle sole crops, suggesting the
potential of reducing N mrning from rhr soil through interflopping. (5) For
more efficient use of X b> interflopping sperm, companion naps that exhibit
different root system architecture are vi:al to prevent competition for uutrr
and N by roots
 
Date 1997
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/4769/1/CP_1314.pdf
Adu-Gyamfi, J J and Ito, O (1997) Nitrogen Management in Sorghum/Pigeonpea Intercrop. In: Extending nitrogen fixation research to farmers' fields: proceedings of an International Workshop on Managing Legume Nitrogen Fixation in the Cropping Systems of Asia, 20-24 Aug 1996, ICRISAT Asia Center, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.