Indian J. of Agroforestry Vol. 13 No. 2: 51-54 (2011) 51

Productivity and soil fertility dynamics under fodder trees andleguminous hedge row alley cropping5.5. Rathore, B. Prakash and B.P. BhattJharnapani, Medziphema, Via Dimapur, Nagaland-797106, IndiaICAR Research Complex for Northeastern Hill Region, Nagaland CentreJharnapani, Medziphema, Via Dimapur, Nagaland-797 106, India

ABSTRACT: Experiments were conducted on tree and hedge row alleys cropping system with tree/shrub and foddercrops combination with the objective to develop intensive fodder production systems for ensuring year round availabilityof green fodder. Two tree species (Trema orienta/is, Ficus hookeri) were grown in alleys with seasonal crops of Maize,napier, broom grass, and job's tear (Coix), cowpea and soybean and that of hedge row of Crota/aria, F/emengia andTephrosa alleys with seasonal crops of maize, rice straw, cowpea respectively, during 2005-2007. The maize cropproduced 325 q/ha of green fodder biomass and that of tree foliage (Trema orientalis) 401 q/ha/year. Maize, coix recordedstatistically at par yield while the fodder biomass from other fodder crops (Napier, broom grass, cow pea and soybean)were found statistically significant different. Napier- F hookeri alleys recorded maximum fodder yield (761.7 q/ha).Amonghedge row species, C. macrophylla recorded maximum green fodder biomass over F macrophylla and T candida.Highest maize fodder biomass was in hedge row of T candida which was followed by Fmacrophylla and C. macrophyflahedgerow system. Similarly in hedgerow system Crota/aria, Tephrosa and F/emengia recorded significantly higher N, P, Kcontent.

Key words: Agroforestry system, alley cropping, fodder, hedge row, leguminous fodder

1. INTRODUCTIONLivestock is one of the most important activitiesafter agriculture in north-east India but increasingfodder shortage is a serious problem forsustainable rearing of animals. The northeastregions are well known for its rich biodiversity offlora as well as fauna. Increasing anthropogenicinterference in natural ecosystem in north eastregion is leading to many of ecological problems.The much debated practices of shifting cultivationand clearing of natural forest lands which are alsogood pasture land for grazing animals areshrinking. Livestock rearing in northeast is mainlydone by free grazing but the semi confinementsystems are also gaining its popularity in someparts of the states. The economically viable animalhusbandry can only be sustained well in intensiverearing system especially in present scenario ofshrinking natural resources. The available naturalresources such as land, water and biodiversity canbe suitable utilized in increasing the availability ofgreen and dry fodder for the animals. The alleysystem of intensive fodder production which isessentially an agroforestry system holds goodunder Nagaland situation. The alley croppingsystem extended to include livestock by feeding aportion of the hedge row foliage to animals wasdescribed as alley farming by Rao et. a/ 1991.Alley farms could also be managed for fodderproduction, only by planting tree-grasscombinations. According to Atta-Krah (1989), thissystem is especially suitable for livestock farmerswilling to invest in pasture production.

The agro techniques have been developed toenhance fodder availability in other parts of countrybut in north east India, the information on intensivefodder production system is scanty. Keeping theseconstraints in view an experiment was conductedunder foothills of Nagaland on alley cropping in twosystems (trees and hedge row alleys) during 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 by combining seasonalfodder crops with perennials.2. MATERIALS AND METHODSTwo systems of alleys i.e., trees and hedge rowswere tested under foothills of Nagaland. Tremaorienta/is and Ficus hookeri trees alleys weremade with seasonal crops of maize, napier, broomgrass and job's tear (Goix), cowpea and soybeanand that of hedge row of Grata/aria, F/emengia andTephrasa alleys with seasonal crops of maize, ricestraw, cowpea respectively.Trema orienta/is, Ficus hookeri alley croppingsystems were tried with fodder crops of maize,cowpea, soybean, napier and broom grass. The Torienta/is alley was maintained at 8 x 8m spacingwith a population of 150 saplings /ha and that of F.hookeri at 9 x 9m with population of 120 trees/ha.In paired hedge row of Grata/aria, F/emengia andTephrasa at a spacing of 50 cm were grown at interrow spacing of 10m. The study was conducted insplit plot design with three replications. Tree andhedges were taken in main plot and in subplots theannual fodder crops were grown. In tree alleys, twoin main plots and six treatments in sub plots, whilein hedge row alleys three treatments each werelaid out in main and subplot, respectively.

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52 Productivity and soil fertility dynamics

The nutrient analysis was done of the respectivecrop residues and the final uptake of N, P and Kwere calculated accordingly to know the nutrientdynamics in the intensive fodder productionsystem. The uptake of individual crop is calculatedfrom average of dry matter of fodder biomass ofrespective crop in the same experiment.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONTrema orientalis based alleys system with maize in 8metres spacing produced biomass of 726.79 q/hafrom kharif season. Maize crop produced 325 q/ha(green fodder) and that of tree foliage (Tremaorientalis) 401 q/ha/year. Among fodder crops maizeand coix recorded statistically at par yield, whilefodder biomass from other fodder crops (napier,broom grass, cowpea and soybean) were foundstatistically significant (Table 1). Choice of treespecies for use in any intercropping system witharable crops is of utmost importance (Rachie, 1983),as it determines to a large extent, the success orfailure of the system. Atta-Krah (1989) reported anannual yield of 30 t dry matter/ha from a combinationof 0.5 m inter-row spacing with a cutting interval of 12weeks for Leucaena in the humid zone. Themaximum fodder biomass was recorded from napier(496 q/ha), which was statistically significant over allfodder crop. Tree foliages of Trema orientalis alsorecorded variable biomass with different crops. Themost productive alleys of Trema orientalis wasobserved with napier in terms of total fodder biomassproduction but maximum tree foliage yield of Tremawas recorded with soybean (465 q/ha), which wasstatistically at par with cow pea but significantlyhigher over maize, napier, broom grass and job'stear. Over all average tree foliage production ofTrema orientalis was recorded as 406.0 q/ha incombination of other fodder crops. Better fodderbiomass under alleys system was obtained becauseof complementary use of resources by trees andannual crops. (Pathak, 1989, Blott and Knight,

2001). Another tree alley of Ficus hookeri alsorecorded with variable fodder biomass productivity.Napier F. hookeri alleys also recorded maximumfodder tonnage (761.7 q/ha). Broom grass and job'stear resulted in almost equal fodder productivity(Table1). Leguminous fodder of cowpea andsoybean resulted in comparatively lower fodderbiomass, but these were nutritionally far superior tograminacious fodder. Cow pea was found goodamong legumes fodder crops in alleys. Maximumyield of tree foliage of F. hookeri was recorded inalleys with soybean which was statisticallysignificant over other fodder crops with F. hookerialley system. The response of the intercroppedcowpea to the alley cropping situation appeared tobe negative in terms of grain yield but increasedvegetative growth was observed over non alleyscowpea. Compared with maize, cowpea probablyalso suffers more from competition for light and otherfactors in alley cropping on account of itsmorphology relative to the hedge rows (even whenpruned).The average fodder biomass from Grata/aria,F/emengia and Tephrasa were recorded 200, 160and 120 q/ha respectively. Total fodder biomasspotential of combination of different fodder cropsand hedge is given in Table 2. Hedge row system ofleguminous species of Grata/aria macraphylla,Tephrosa candida and Flemengia macraphyllawas tested with fodder crop of maize, rice and cowpea. In G. macraphylla hedge row system,maximum fodder biomass was recorded withmaize green fodder followed by rice straw andcowpea (Table 2). In case of T candida and F.macraphylla, similar trends was recorded. Amonghedge row species, G. macraphylla recordedmaximum green fodder biomass over F.macraphylla and T candida (Table 2). Highestmaize fodder biomass was in hedge row of Tcandida, which was followed by F. macrophylla

Table1. Fodder biomass from alleys systems of Trema orietalis and Ficus hookeri (average of two years 2005and 2006)

Alleys of trees Fodder biomass (q/ha) from Trema Fodder biomass (q/ha) from Ficusorientafis affey hookeri alley

S.N. Fodder crops Fodder crop Trema orientafis Total fodder Fodder crops Ficus hookeri Total fodderyield (FW q/ha) (q/ha/year) biomass (q/ha) yield (q/ha) (q/ha/year) biomas (q/ha)

1 Maize 325.0 401.7 726.7 300.0 250.3 550.3

2 Napier 496.7 365.3 862 451.7 310.0 761.7

3 Broom grass 398.3 354.0 752.3 348.3 257.3 605.6

4 Job's tear Coix 317.7 393.3 711 353.3 310.0 663.35 Cowpea 148.3 455.0 603.3 152.3 348.3 500.6

6 Soybean 118.7 465.7 584.4 118.7 364.0 482

CD5% 13.7 14.4 7.5 13.0Average yield of tree 406.0 307.0foliages (q/ha)

Indian J. ofAgroforestry Vol. 13 No. 2: 51-54 (2011) 53

and C. macrophylla hedge row system. Increasedfodder biomass production of C. macrophyllacompensates the reduction offodder biomass frommaize under maize + C. macxrophylla system(Yadav et. a/.,2005). Moses and Victor (1999) in anexperiment on 5-year old Leucaena hedge rows ongrowth and nutrient uptake of a maize crop in ahumid highland area of western Kenya andreported decline in maize biomass compared to thesole crop maize, but the total tree biomassincreased with increasing tree density, reflectingsynergistic effects of trees, presumably due toincreased N mineralized from the mulch added aspruning. Fodder productivity of the species inalleys was recorded maximum in the tree alleysi.e., Treme orientalis and Ficus hookeri (Figure 1).Reduced competition among the components inalleys system is essential in large scale adoptionby farmers. Alley cropping would be acceptable tofarmers, if amount of tree-crop competition could

be reduced and crop yields increased andstabilized. Bbhringer and Leihner (1996-1997)reported similarly in their study conducted in WestAfrica.In tree alleys, maximum N content was recorded inleguminous fodder cowpea and soybean, whichwas at par with N content of tree foliages of T.orienta/is. The N content of tree foliage of F. hookeriwas lower but significantly higher overgraminacous fodder crops. P content wasmaximum in T. orienta/is and F. hookeri leavesfollowed by broom grass. However with respect toK content except cowpea and soybean, all cropand tree foliages recorded more than 1 % K andmaximum content was observed in maize leaves.Cowpea and soybean recorded relatively higherN,P,K content and among tree foliages Tremaorientalis also recorded comparable at par N,P,Kcontent. Maximum nutrient uptake was recordedfrom napierfollowed by maize (Table 3).

Table 2. Total fodder production potential of Crota/aria, F/emengia and Tephrosa hedge row system alongwith fodder crop (average of two years 2005 and 2006)

S. Hedge speciesNo.

Foddercrop

1 Croto/aria macrophylla Maize

Rice straw

CowpeaMaizeRice straw

Cowpea

Maize

Rice strawCowpea

2 Tephrosa candida

3 F/emengia macrophylla

CD at 5 %

From hedgerow

180.0188.3

206.7115.0114.3

123.0

151.7

156.7175.07.07

Fodder biomass (q/ha)From fodder Total foddercrop biomass productivity

215.0 395

95.0 283.392.3 299.0

245.0 360.095.7 210.089.0 212.0

235.0 386.7125.0 281.7

92.3 267.3

7.25

Table 3. Nutrient uptake under tree (Trema orienta/is and Ficus hookeri) alley system (average of two years2005 and 2006)

S.No. Crop/treefoliage N P K Totalremoval

Content Removal Content Removal Content Removal (kg/ha)(%) (kg/ha) (%) (kg/ha) (%kg/ha) (kg/ha)

1 Tremaorientalis 1.1 178.6 0.45 73.1 1.2 194.9 4472 Ficushookeri 085 91.4 0.50 53.8 1.45 155.9 301

3 Maize 0.46 52.3 0.15 17.1 1.65 187.7 257.1

4 Napier 0.40 59.6 0.11 16.4 1.20 178.8 254.8

5 Broomgrass 0.30 35.8 0.30 35.8 1.10 131.4 203.1

6 Coix 0.45 42.9 0.08 7.6 1.50 143.0 193.57 Cowpea 1.25 46.3 0.21 7.8 0.71 26.3 80.5

8 Soybean 1.20 35.6 0.30 8.9 0.68 20.2 64.7

CDat 5% 1.13 6.78 0.03 2.76 0.12 12.98 22.52

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54 Productivity and soil fertility dynamics

Tremaorfentalis

Flcus Crotolarla Tephrosa Flemengiahookerf macrophylla candida macrophylla

Fodder productivity of various alley systems

500~ 450tT 400.: 350::- 300:~ 250u 200.s ISOe 100~. SO

~ 0"~.

Different alley systems

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and fodder shrubs in the nutrition of sheep and goats in thehumid tropics of West Africa. In: Sheep and goat meatproduction in the humid tropics of West Africa. Timon, V.M.and Baber, RP. (eds.), FAO. Rome, pp. 68-91

Blott _K.M. and Knight A.J.P. 2001. Soil moisture and canolayield in an alley farming system. Proceedings of the 10thAustralian Agronomy Conference, January 2001, Hobart,Tasmania.

B6hringer A. and Leihner D.E. 1996-1997. A Comparison OfAlley Cropping And Block Planting Systems In Sub-HumidBenin.Aqroforestry Systems 35 (2): 117-130.

Pathak, P.S. 1989. Management of subabul for optimizingproduction. In production of fodder and fuel wood trees(Eds. N.G. Hegde and Others), BAIF Publications, Pune.

Rachie K.O. 1983. Intercropping tree legumes with annualcrops. In: Huxley P A (ed.). Plant research and agroforestry.International Council for Research in Agroforestry, Nairobi,Kenya. pp. 103-116.

Moses Imo and Victor R Timmer 1999. Vector competitionanalysis of a Leucaena-maize alley cropping system inwestern Kenya. Forest Ecology and Management. Volume126, Issue 2, 10 February 2000, Pages 255-268.

Rachie K.O. 1983. Intercropping tree legumes with annualcrops. In: Huxley PA (ed.). Plant research and agroforestry.International Council for Research in Agroforestry, Nairobi,Kenya. pp. 103-116.

Rao M.R, Ong C.K., Pathak P. and Sharma M.M. 1991.Productivity of annual cropping and agroforestry systemson a shallowAlfisol in semi-arid India. 15 (1): 51-63.

Yadav, R.S., Yadav, B.L., Chhippa, B.R and Keshwa, G.L.2005. Nutrient Removal and Yield of wheat (Triticumaestiveum Lin) as Influenced by Different Tree Species inAgroforestry under Semi-Arid Condition of Rajasthan.Indian J.Agroforestry. 7(1): 21-24.

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