Thesis (M.Sc. (Horticulture)) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / Field experiments were conducted at the University of Limpopo experimental farm,
Syferkuil during 2005/06 and 2006/07 production seasons. This was initiated to examine the effect of leaf removal on cowpea biomass, protein content and grain yield under sole and binary cultures. Treatments consisted of cowpea varieties (Pan 311 and Red caloona),
cropping systems (sole and intercropping) and cowpea-leaf pruning regimes (pruning and
un-pruned). Sweet corn was planted, as a component crop in the intercropped plots while sole sweet corn plot was included as a treatment. All treatment combinations were laid out as Randomize complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates. Supplementary
irrigation was carried out during the plant growth period. Fully expanded leaves were
harvested once on all cowpea plants in the two middle rows from designated plots at
seven weeks after planting for each year. Growth and yield data were collected from
component crops during the course of the trial while the protein content of harvested
leaves and immature pods as well as the different cowpea plant parts at harvest were
determined. Results of the study revealed that leaves of cowpea variety, Pan 311
harvested prior to the reproductive stage had significantly higher protein content than
those of Red caloona. Protein content of immature Pan 311 pods had higher (18.8 to
25.1%) than Red caloona (17.9 to 20.7%) during both planting seasons. The percent
protein content of cowpea stem obtained at harvest for Pan 311 varied between 9.3 and
9.4%, and between 9.9 and 12.3% for Red caloona during both planting seasons. Grain
yield obtained for Pan 311 and Red caloona were 1703.7 kg ha-1 and 1479.8 kg ha-1,
respectively during 2005/06 and 1290.7 kg ha-1 and 511.7 kg ha-1 respectively during
2006/07 planting seasons. Sweet corn intercropped with Red caloona during both
planting seasons had higher average grain yield than when intercropped with Pan 311.
Although intercropping decreased the partial land equivalent ratio (LER) value of
individual component crops, the combined LER values of between 1.1 and 2.3 under
intercrop for the different treatment combinations implies that the practice is
advantageous. The results of post harvest soil analyses revealed that topsoil has the pH value of 7.11-7.29 indicating neutral soil while subsoil pH value of 6.27-6.91 indicated
slightly acidic to neutral soil during both planting seasons. Based on the findings of this study, cowpea variety Pan 311 can be recommended as a better vegetable crop than Red caloona since it has higher leaf and immature pod protein content. It also had higher grain yield than Red caloona when intercropped with sweet corn. Sweet corn had high grain
yield when intercropped with Red caloona than when intercropped with Pan 311.
Keywords: Cropping systems, protein content, grain yields, leaf pruning and cowpea.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/579 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Sebetha, Erick Tshivetsi |
| Contributors | Ayodele, V.I., Mariga, I.K. |
| Publisher | University of Limpopo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ix, 72 leaves |
| Relation |
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