EFFECT OF INTERCROPPING PATTERN AND COWPEA ACCESSION ON FORAGE YIELD, QUALITY AND COMPETITION RELATIONSHIPS OF SORGHUM / COWPEA MIXTURES

Two field trials were conducted at the Agricultural Research and Experiment Station of Cairo University in 1993 and 1994 seasons.  The aim was to improve the quality of sorghum/cowpea mixture by intercropping five cowpea accessions (IT 84 E-1-108, IT 83 S-689, IT 84-840, IT83 S-872 and IT 83S-880) with forage sorghum (Giza 1) in three intercropping patterns (50% cowpea:50% sorghum, 75% cowpea: 25% sorghum and 25% cowpea: 75% sorghum) compard to solid cowpea and sorghum.  Accession IT84E-1-108 gave the highest fresh and dry forage yields in 1993, but in 1994, IT84-840 was the best accession. The more sorghum in the mixture the more forage yield was obtained. Intercropping pattern 1: 3 (25% cowpea 75% sorghum) gave the greatest dry forage yield for both (cowpea and sorghum) when compared  (50% cowpea: 50% sorghum and  75% cowpea: 25% sorghum). Intercropping IT84E-l-108 and IT84-840 with sorghum at  25% cowpea and 75% sorghum gave the highest seasonal dry forage yield in 1993 and 1994 seasons, respectively. The mixture (3 cowpea: 1 sorghum) gave the highest fodder protein. The best accession for protein yield was IT83S-872. Land equivalent ratio based on total fodder protein yield of cowpea and sorghum in 1994 season showed significant differences among intercropping patterns. In general, intercropping pattern of 75%  cowpea and 25%  sorghum significantly increased LER on basis of protein yield . Intercropping  IT83S-872 accession at 75%  with  25% sorghum gave the highest  LER on basis of protein yield. The IT83 S-689, IT84-840 and IT83S-880 accessions showed a positive response for LER based on protein yield under all different intercropping patterns in 1994 season. The IT83S-872 accession exceeded all accessions in LER (1.38) followed by IT83S-880. IT84E-1-108 accession showed a lowest value of LER (protein) under different intercropping patterns. Significant differences were obtained for the competitive ratio of cowpea accessions under intercropping patterns for seasonal yield in 1993 and 1994 seasons.