Browsing by Author "Thompson, David Ross"

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    The effect of cereal height on performance of strands intercropped with soya beans
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1978) Thompson, David Ross
    Two experiments were carried out on the university farm in which the effect of cereal height on intercropped soya bean stands was investigated. In the first experiment short and tall forms of three cereals (maize, sorghum and bulrush millet) were intercropped with two soya bean varieties of different maturity lengths. In the second experiment tall and short maize types were grown at four spacing with three fertiliser rates. Soya beans were spaced every 10 cm between maize plants. Cereal height was found to significantly affect the intercropped soya beans which yielded less under the tall cereals. The reduction in soya bean yield under tall cereals mainly resulted from a decreased number of pods per soya bean plant. In Experiment 2 the overall yield was affected very little by cereal height but in Experiment 1 combined maize and soya bean yield was significantly greater in the tall maize plots. The large yield differences between tall and short mil et plots are thought to have resulted from large genetic differences between these varieties rather than just height differences. The differences are the cause of a number of significant in the 1. Although cereal height did significantly affect the intercropped soya beans its effect was not as marked as the effect of other factors incorporated in the two experiments. The earlier maturing Improved Pelican variety of soya bean out yielded the 1H/192 variety under maize and sorghum while the differences between them under millet was not significant. Wider cereal spacing caused a significant decrease in cereal yield while soya bean yield increased significantly because of a higher population and an increase in pod numbers per plant. Fertility level greatly affected maize and soya bean yields with fertiliser application significantly increasing maize decreasing soya bean yield through more severe competition. All components of soya bean yield were reduced when fertiliser was applied. Increased fertility level tended to make the effects of height and more marked giving significant interactions in several instances.