The influence of forage legumes on annual fodder grasses in different intercropping systems in the Limpopo Province

Abstract

Identification of annual grass/legume intercropping or mixtures with superior nutrient traits and Dry matter (DM) production is critical to increasing productivity of the crop and animal production among small-scale farmers in the Limpopo Province. Three similar field experiments were established at different locations in the Province to determine the significance of the contribution of annual summer legumes, and cutting treatments on the nutritive value and dry matter accumulation of the popular forage sorghum (Sorghum spp) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) intercropped with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and dolichos (Lablab purpureus). The cropping systems evaluated were sole sorghum, sole pearl millet, sorghum + cowpea, sorghum + dolichos, pearl millet + cowpea and pearl millet + dolichos. The treatments sole sorghum and pearl millet significantly (P<0.05) outperformed the other treatments in terms of DM production at most cutting stages. The remaining four treatments though, inferior in DM in this study, yielded better than the average yield on farmers' fields in the Province. Higher protein content was obtained in mixtures than in sole cropping, and generally there was lower protein production and content at matured stages (CT3) in the study. The other chemical composition analyzed in the study was not significant for both mixtures and sole cultures.