An experiment was conducted at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India from June 1984 to April 1988 on a shallow Alfisol to determine whether the productivity of annual crop systems can be improved by adding perennial species such as Leucaena leucocephala managed as hedgerows. Except in the first year, crop yields were suppressed by Leucaena due to competition for moisture. The severity of competition was high in years of low rainfall and on long-duration crops such as castor and pigeonpea. Based on total biomass, sole Leucaena was most productive; even on the basis of land productivity requiring both Leucaena fodder and annual crops, alley cropping had little or no advantage over block planting of both components. Application of hedge prunings as green manure or mulch on top of 60 kg N and 30 kg P2O5ha1 to annual crops did not show any benefit during the experimental period, characterized by below average rainfall. Indications are that (i) alley cropping was beneficial in terms of soil and water conservation with less runoff and soil loss with 3 m alleys than with 5.4 m alleys, and (ii) root pruning or deep ploughing might be effective in reducing moisture competition.
Tag: perennials
Tree-crop Interactions for Below-ground Resources in Drylands: Root Structure and Function
An experiment was conducted at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India from June 1984 to April 1988 on a shallow Alfisol to determine whether the productivity of annual crop systems can be improved by adding perennial species such as Leucaena leucocephala managed as hedgerows. Except in the first year, crop yields were suppressed by Leucaena due to competition for moisture. The severity of competition was high in years of low rainfall and on long-duration crops such as castor and pigeonpea. Based on total biomass, sole Leucaena was most productive; even on the basis of land productivity requiring both Leucaena fodder and annual crops, alley cropping had little or no advantage over block planting of both components. Application of hedge prunings as green manure or mulch on top of 60 kg N and 30 kg P2O5ha1 to annual crops did not show any benefit during the experimental period, characterized by below average rainfall. Indications are that (i) alley cropping was beneficial in terms of soil and water conservation with less runoff and soil loss with 3 m alleys than with 5.4 m alleys, and (ii) root pruning or deep ploughing might be effective in reducing moisture competition.
AFRENA project Burundi: progress report for the period November 1988 to February 1990
At the end of 1986, ICRAF launched an agroforestry research network. for the highlands of East and Central Africa with USAID funds. The network is part of ICRAF’s AFRENA programme, which encompasses three other ecological zones in subsaharan Africa. The 2 main objectives of the AFRENA programme are: 1. To develop appropriate agroforestry technologies for land use systems within an ecological zone, and 2. To develop national/regional capacity to plan, formulate and implement agroforestry research
Climate-Fungal Pathogen Modeling Predicts Loss of Up to One-Third of Tea Growing Areas
Climate change will affect numerous crops in the future; however, perennial crops, such as tea, are particularly vulnerable. Climate change will also strongly influence fungal pathogens. Here, we predict how future climatic conditions will impact tea and its associated pathogens. We collected data on the three most important fungal pathogens of tea (Colletotrichum acutatum, Co. camelliae, and Exobasidium vexans) and then modeled distributions of tea and these fungal pathogens using current and projected climates. The models show that baseline tea-growing areas will become unsuitable for Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (15 to 32% loss) and C. sinensis var. assamica (32 to 34% loss) by 2050. Although new areas will become more suitable for tea cultivation, existing and potentially new fungal pathogens will present challenges in these areas, and they are already under other land-use regimes. In addition, future climatic scenarios suitable range of fungal species and tea suitable cultivation (respectively in CSS and CSA) growing areas are Co. acutatum (44.30%; 31.05%), Co. camelliae (13.10%; 10.70%), and E. vexans (10.20%; 11.90%). Protecting global tea cultivation requires innovative approaches that consider fungal genomics as part and parcel of plant pathology.