Evaluation of the Effect of Intercropping Legumes Covers with Maize on Soil Moisture Improvement in Selected Dry Land Areas of Basketo Special woreda’s, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Intercropping provides enough scope to include two or more crops simultaneously in the same piece of land targeting higher productivity from the unit area. A field experiment was carried out at Arbaminch Agricultural Research Center during crop growing seasons of 2020 and 2021GC. The study focused on evaluating the effect of legume covers (Cowpea and Lablab) intercropping with maize in soil moisture conservation and crop yield in moisture-stress areas of Basketo special woreda. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with three replications. Data collected were analyzed using the general linear model procedure for analysis of variance using SAS statistical package and means separated using least significant difference (LSD) test at p = 0.05. The experiments were carried out on silty clay loam and loam soil in Angila 4 and Angila 3 kebele respectively and slightly acidic soil. After the experiment in Angila 4 kebele, intercropping maize with lablab has profound effect on soil organic carbon and organic matter which is (> 3% and > 5.17%) respectively. The soil organic carbon was increased from 2.44–3.87%. The result shows that intercropping maize with lablab and cowpea has better soil moisture content than a pure stand of maize in both cropping seasons in Angila 4. In this trial, the highest Land Equivalent Ratio values was obtained for Maize intercropped with cowpea and Lablab 1.12 and 1.44 respectively in second year trial at Angila 4 kebele.