Offered Papers Theme A: Efficient Production from Grassland
Description
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. ) is grown as an intercrop with cereals in some 9M ha of West Africa, mostly in the dry savanna. Though grain yields are low (circa 500 kg/ha), it is a nutritious food and dry season fodder. The haulms (leaves and stems) are cut and stored after grain harvest. It aids soil fertility by fixing soil N and returning N via manure from ruminants fed with haulms. Up to the early 1990s, research had focused on developing high grain yielding varieties. Recognition of farmers' appreciation of multiple uses, in particular the fodder value and the increasing importance of crop residues as feed resources in much of West Africa where expansion of agricultural land and intensification mean reduced availability of land for planted forages, led to joint research by ILRI and IITA from 1994 onwards, resulting in identification of "dual purpose" varieties - with the potential to provide both good grain yields and quality fodder under farmer conditions.
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Dual Purpose Cowpea for West Africa
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. ) is grown as an intercrop with cereals in some 9M ha of West Africa, mostly in the dry savanna. Though grain yields are low (circa 500 kg/ha), it is a nutritious food and dry season fodder. The haulms (leaves and stems) are cut and stored after grain harvest. It aids soil fertility by fixing soil N and returning N via manure from ruminants fed with haulms. Up to the early 1990s, research had focused on developing high grain yielding varieties. Recognition of farmers' appreciation of multiple uses, in particular the fodder value and the increasing importance of crop residues as feed resources in much of West Africa where expansion of agricultural land and intensification mean reduced availability of land for planted forages, led to joint research by ILRI and IITA from 1994 onwards, resulting in identification of "dual purpose" varieties - with the potential to provide both good grain yields and quality fodder under farmer conditions.
