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Evaluation of cowpea lines in Nigerian cropping systems

The primary hypothesis of this research was that improved cowpea genotypes (selected under sole crop) could yield well in several Nigerian cropping systems, and that there were cowpea characteristics that improved overall system productivity. Cowpea lines were identified which were high yielding and stable in several management systems. Practices such as not applying insecticide and intercropping both reduced cowpea grain yield significantly. Land equivalent ratios were greater than one for all tested intercrop systems: cassava-cowpea (1.21-2.35), maize-cowpea (1.31-4.23), maize-cassava-cowpea (1.63-3.40) and millet-cowpea (1.13-6.88). Nitrogen nutrition of component crops was investigated. Line influenced both maize grain (12.5-28.4 kg ha-1) and total biomass (48.7-69.0 kg ha-1) nitrogen yield. Evidence from pot and field experiments (including $ sp{15}$N-dilution studies) indicated same-season nitrogen transfer. Light interception studies also indicated the increased light harvesting ability of early sole cowpea lines compared to early intercropped lines systems.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.70310
Date January 1991
CreatorsBlade, Stanford F. (Stanford Fred)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageDoctor of Philosophy (Department of Plant Science.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001276595, proquestno: AAINN74751, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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