Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia

Tesfa Mossie; Kasa Biratu; Hilina Yifreda; Getachew Mulatu

doi:doi:10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia

Tesfa Mossie^*, Kasa Biratu, Hilina Yifreda, Getachew Mulatu

Published in Plant (Volume 12, Issue 1)

Received: 5 December 2023 Accepted: 21 December 2023 Published: 11 January 2024

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Abstract

Farmlands are being developed as a result of the high demand for food crops. The experimental trial was conducted under field conditions at Jimma Agricultural Research center, Agaro and Gera sub centers during the main cropping season of 2018 to 2021. The objective of the study was to assess the growth performance and forage yield of herbaceous forage legumes intercropped with coffee. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on plant height, number of branches per plant, fresh and dry matter yields were collected and analyzed using the general linear model procedures in the R software, and the least significant difference was used to compare treatment means. The combined analysis of variance showed the presence of significant differences (P<0.05) among treatments, environments, and interaction effects. The treatment x environment (G x E) interactions also showed significant (P <0.05) difference for all measured agronomic traits except plant height. Mucuna pruriens had higher/taller plant height among the legumes, followed by Desmodium species. The lowest mean plant height was recorded from Stylosanethes species. Stylosanthes and Desmodim species gave the highest fresh biomass and dry matter yields, while Mucuna pruriens produced the lowest. At Gera, the forage legume dry matter yields were by far the highest of the three sites. However, further studies are required to examine the cost benefit on soil fertility and weed control of the legume forages used as a cover crop.

Published in	Plant (Volume 12, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12
Page(s)	5-10
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Coffee, Herbaceous Legume Crops, Intercropping

References

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Mossie, T., Biratu, K., Yifreda, H., Mulatu, G. (2024). Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant, 12(1), 5-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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Mossie, T.; Biratu, K.; Yifreda, H.; Mulatu, G. Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant. 2024, 12(1), 5-10. doi: 10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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Mossie T, Biratu K, Yifreda H, Mulatu G. Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant. 2024;12(1):5-10. doi: 10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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@article{10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12,
  author = {Tesfa Mossie and Kasa Biratu and Hilina Yifreda and Getachew Mulatu},
  title = {Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia},
  journal = {Plant},
  volume = {12},
  number = {1},
  pages = {5-10},
  doi = {10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.plant.20241201.12},
  abstract = {Farmlands are being developed as a result of the high demand for food crops. The experimental trial was conducted under field conditions at Jimma Agricultural Research center, Agaro and Gera sub centers during the main cropping season of 2018 to 2021. The objective of the study was to assess the growth performance and forage yield of herbaceous forage legumes intercropped with coffee. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on plant height, number of branches per plant, fresh and dry matter yields were collected and analyzed using the general linear model procedures in the R software, and the least significant difference was used to compare treatment means. The combined analysis of variance showed the presence of significant differences (PMucuna pruriens had higher/taller plant height among the legumes, followed by Desmodium species. The lowest mean plant height was recorded from Stylosanethes species. Stylosanthes and Desmodim species gave the highest fresh biomass and dry matter yields, while Mucuna pruriens produced the lowest. At Gera, the forage legume dry matter yields were by far the highest of the three sites. However, further studies are required to examine the cost benefit on soil fertility and weed control of the legume forages used as a cover crop.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia
AU - Tesfa Mossie
AU - Kasa Biratu
AU - Hilina Yifreda
AU - Getachew Mulatu
Y1 - 2024/01/11
PY - 2024
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12
DO - 10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12
T2 - Plant
JF - Plant
JO - Plant
SP - 5
EP - 10
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2331-0677
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12
AB - Farmlands are being developed as a result of the high demand for food crops. The experimental trial was conducted under field conditions at Jimma Agricultural Research center, Agaro and Gera sub centers during the main cropping season of 2018 to 2021. The objective of the study was to assess the growth performance and forage yield of herbaceous forage legumes intercropped with coffee. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on plant height, number of branches per plant, fresh and dry matter yields were collected and analyzed using the general linear model procedures in the R software, and the least significant difference was used to compare treatment means. The combined analysis of variance showed the presence of significant differences (PMucuna pruriens had higher/taller plant height among the legumes, followed by Desmodium species. The lowest mean plant height was recorded from Stylosanethes species. Stylosanthes and Desmodim species gave the highest fresh biomass and dry matter yields, while Mucuna pruriens produced the lowest. At Gera, the forage legume dry matter yields were by far the highest of the three sites. However, further studies are required to examine the cost benefit on soil fertility and weed control of the legume forages used as a cover crop.

VL - 12
IS - 1
ER -

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Author Information

Tesfa Mossie

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Jimma, Ethiopia

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Kasa Biratu

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Jimma, Ethiopia
Hilina Yifreda

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Jimma, Ethiopia
Getachew Mulatu

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Jimma, Ethiopia

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Mossie, T., Biratu, K., Yifreda, H., Mulatu, G. (2024). Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant, 12(1), 5-10. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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ACS Style

Mossie, T.; Biratu, K.; Yifreda, H.; Mulatu, G. Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant. 2024, 12(1), 5-10. doi: 10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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AMA Style

Mossie T, Biratu K, Yifreda H, Mulatu G. Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia. Plant. 2024;12(1):5-10. doi: 10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12

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@article{10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12,
  author = {Tesfa Mossie and Kasa Biratu and Hilina Yifreda and Getachew Mulatu},
  title = {Agronomic Performance of Perennial Herbaceous Legume Forage Crops Grown as a Cover Crop Under Coffee Trees in Southwestern Ethiopia},
  journal = {Plant},
  volume = {12},
  number = {1},
  pages = {5-10},
  doi = {10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.plant.20241201.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.plant.20241201.12},
  abstract = {Farmlands are being developed as a result of the high demand for food crops. The experimental trial was conducted under field conditions at Jimma Agricultural Research center, Agaro and Gera sub centers during the main cropping season of 2018 to 2021. The objective of the study was to assess the growth performance and forage yield of herbaceous forage legumes intercropped with coffee. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on plant height, number of branches per plant, fresh and dry matter yields were collected and analyzed using the general linear model procedures in the R software, and the least significant difference was used to compare treatment means. The combined analysis of variance showed the presence of significant differences (PMucuna pruriens had higher/taller plant height among the legumes, followed by Desmodium species. The lowest mean plant height was recorded from Stylosanethes species. Stylosanthes and Desmodim species gave the highest fresh biomass and dry matter yields, while Mucuna pruriens produced the lowest. At Gera, the forage legume dry matter yields were by far the highest of the three sites. However, further studies are required to examine the cost benefit on soil fertility and weed control of the legume forages used as a cover crop.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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VL - 12
IS - 1
ER -

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