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Alley Farming with Leucaena: Effect of Short Grazed Fallows on Soil Fertility and Crop Yields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

A. N. Atta-Krah
A. N. Atta-Krah
Affiliation:
International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), Ibadan, Nigeria
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Summary

A long-term trial with Leucaena leucocephala was initiated in 1982 to test the sustainability of Leucaena-based alley farming compared to a conventional cropping system without trees and with continuous cultivation of maize. It assessed the integration of short grazed fallows in rotation within Leucaena alleys and their effect on soil fertility and crop yields.

The various treatments had no effect on soil pH during the four-year period of the trial. The organic carbon and total nitrogen contents of the soils under conventional cropping were lower by the end of the fourth year than those under alley cropping and alley grazing treatments, whereas soil phosphorus levels were lower in the alley cropping and grazing plots. Foliage dry matter production of Leucaena under alley cropping management ranged from 6.0 to 6.7 t ha−1 a−1 under continuous cropping and reached 8 t ha−1 when alley cropping was preceded by a grazed fallow. Crop yields were consistently higher with alley cropping than with conventional cropping. Alley cropping plots in rotation with two year grazed fallows gave significantly higher crop yields during cropping years than those under continuous cultivation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

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