Plant height, biomass production, assimilatory functions and chlorophyll accumulation of Panicum maximum and Stylosanthes hamata in intercropping systems was influenced significantly under elevated CO2 (600 +/- 50 ppm) in open top chambers (OTCs). The plant height increased by 32.0 and 49.0% over the control in P. maximum and S. hamata respectively in intercropping system under elevated CO2 ove...

i Summary/Zusammenfassung ii Summary Evaluation of dual purpose cowpea varieties for dry season feeding of ruminant animals Cowpea is of major importance to the livelihoods of millions of people in the tropics. Resource-poor smallholder farmers derive food, animal feed, cash and manure from the crop. Dual purpose cowpea has the potential to function as a key integrating factor in intensifying s...

Manure is a common source of nitrogen (N) in organic farming. However, manure not always easily available, while the maximum N amount added as animal agriculture restricted by EU regulations. The present study was designed to test whether green manuring with warm-season legume and intercropping cold-season can substitute farm-yard or compost sources greenhouse tomato crops. To this hypothesis, ...

Effects of four host plants, tobacco, Chinese cabbage, cowpea and sweet potato, on larval and pupal development and survival, and longevity and fecundity of adults of Spodoptera litura (F) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), were studied under laboratory conditions (26 degrees C, 60-80% RH), as was the utilization of the four host plants and adaptation on tobacco. All of the biological parameters include...

the study investigates consumers’ preference for cowpea reflected in the nigerian markets through price discounts and premiums that consumers pay for different cowpea characteristics. the price data used for this study were obtained through a market survey. a common data collection protocol was employed. every month, between october 2009 to december 2010, five cowpea samples per seller were bou...

Which genes have been incorporated into the Marucaresistant cowpea? The Maruca-resistant cowpea contains the cry1Ab (Bt) and nptII genes. The Bt gene was derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. The Bt protein produced in modified cowpea plants has been shown to be identical to the naturally occurring protein, and equivalent to the protein used as a biopesticide b...

A reduction in the viability of cowpea rhizobia was observed when Rhizobium trifolii IARI and cowpea Rhizobium strain 3824 were inoculated together in soil. The reduction in number of cowpea rhizobia in soil was found to be associated with the reduction in number of nodules per plant and retardation in plant growth. An antimicrobial substance was isolated from R. trifolii which, on electron mic...

In the past decades, the world’s food production was mostly practiced by a monoculture system, i.e., growing only a crop over an area. The monoculture causes damages (or changes) to the biological diversity, especially the soil fertility. The sustainable agriculture is an approach of managing crop ecology in order to maintain the biological diversity, productions and long-term human existence. ...

Given the growing challenges to food and eco-environmental security as well as sustainable development of animal husbandry in the farming and pastoral areas of northeast China, it is crucial to identify advantageous intercropping modes and some constraints limiting its popularization. In order to assess the performance of various intercropping modes of maize and alfalfa, a field experiment was ...