Research
Land Use Planning for Vegetable Farming in Benue State of Nigeria
Management of soil organic matter is the key to successful organic farming with regards to soil productivity. Vegetable production is most successful in soils rich in organic matter and also with adequate soil moisture. This paper examines two broad groups of soils in Benue State (the upland and the wetland soils) with respect to their suitability for organic vegetable farming. In 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 cropping seasons, a soil characterization study for field assessment of vegetable crop yields in the upland and wetland soils of Benue state was conducted. The wetland soils were found to be richer in organic carbon (2.28%) than the upland soils (0.87%). This singular difference had multiplier effects as wetland soils had higher total N (0.31%) and available P (9.8 mg kg-1), higher pH (6.7) and total exchangeable bases (12.8 mol kg-1) and by implication higher water holding capacity. Among the wetland soils, okra yields averaged 5.92mt ha-1 (wetland) as against 2.75 mt ha-1 (upland) and garden egg yields were 6.00mt ha-1 (wetland) and 4.50mt ha-1 (upland). These results indicated that wetland soils had greater advantage for organic farming than the upland soils. Since land use planning is all about allocation of land to optimize yields and minimize damage to soil resources, the wetland soils are therefore recommended for organic vegetable farming in Benue State.
Relative performance of three sweet potato varieties in sole and intercrop systems in Southern Guinea Savanna ecology of Nigeria
A field experiment was conducted in 2009 and 2010 at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the yield and yield components of newly introduced sweet potato varieties under various planting patterns with pigeonpea. Neither fertilizer nor insecticide was applied. This was done in accordance with standard practices of organic sweet potato production. The experiment was a 3 x 5 split plot set out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Each component crop was planted at a population of 33,000 plants per ha-1 in both sole and intercropping systems. Planting pattern did not exert any significant effects on the fresh fodder weight and number of saleable tubers of sweet potato. Sole cropped sweet potato produced significantly higher number of branches per plant, tuber length and weight than row- and strip-intercropped treatments. Percentage reduction in saleable tuber yield of sweet potato varied from 47.07% (strip – intercropping) to 49.11% (row – intercropping). TIS 87/0087 and TIS 2532.OP.1.13 had significantly higher number of tubers per plant, fresh fodder weight, tuber length, circumference and weight than all other varietie . Intercropping reduced the pod weight and grain yield of pigeonpea. All intercrop combinations had land equivalent ratio figures above unity and land equivalent coefficient values greater than 0.25, except row - and strip - intercropped TIS 2532.OP.1.13, implying suitability of some of these sweet potato varieties for intercropping with pigeonpea in Makurdi.
