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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.70310 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Blade, Stanford F. (Stanford Fred) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Plant Science.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001276595, proquestno: AAINN74751, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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