The Effect of enset leaf pruning on legume growth and yield under intercropping in bensa, southeast Ethiopia

  • Authors

    • Gemechu Berhanu Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia
    • Alemu Tunsisa Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia
    • Alemayehu Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia
    • Talef Yeshitla Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia
    2024-11-07
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ncxtvq36
  • Enset; Cultivar; Intercrop; Legume.

  • Abstract

    As a result of declining farmland and increasing food security needs, intercropping is necessary for small-scale farmers in Ethiopia. An enset–legume intercropping study was conducted for two consecutive cropping seasons during 2020-2021 in the Bensa district to investigate the effect of enset leaf pruning on the growth and grain yield of legumes. The treatments in the experiment involved two levels of enset leaf pruning (retaining eight and all leaves) with three legume crops (bush bean, climbing bean, and soybean). The sole leguminous plants were also included, resulting in a factorial arrangement with 12 treatments laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of this study revealed that there were significant differences due to the main effects of legume cultivar on the number of branches, the number of pod per plants, the biomass, and the grain yield with climbing beans during both seasons. On the one hand, significant variances were observed due to the main effects of leaf pruning on the number of branches and grain yield during the first season, while their interaction had no significant variations except for 50% of the days of flowering, in which the shortest day was obtained from bush beans during both cropping cycles. Enset leaf pruning improved grain yield during the first cropping cycle. Significantly, the highest legume yield was recorded for climbing beans during the short season due to the main effect of enset leaf pruning, which decreased in the later growing season. In general, the trends in the data for almost all the parameters showed a drastic decline during the second cropping season, particularly for bush beans and soybeans. These findings indicated that more enset leaf pruning is needed for bush beans, particularly soybeans, in the later enset growth stage. Thus, it can be concluded that with wider spacing, climbing beans are promising cultivars for obtaining a reasonable legume yield under enset intercropping. However, the performance of all the leguminous crops was nevertheless impaired at the 1.5 × 1.5 m-spaced mature enset plant intercropping growth stage.

    Author Biographies

    • Alemu Tunsisa, Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia

      Plant sciences head

    • Alemayehu, Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia

      plant sciences lecturer

    • Talef Yeshitla, Department of Plant Science, Hawassa University (Daye Campus), Ethiopia

      Plant sciences lecturer

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  • How to Cite

    Berhanu, G., Tunsisa, A., Madebo, A., & Yeshitla, T. (2024). The Effect of enset leaf pruning on legume growth and yield under intercropping in bensa, southeast Ethiopia. SPC Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 3(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.14419/ncxtvq36