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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Cowpea N rhizodeposition and its below-ground transfer to a co-existing and to a subsequent millet crop on a sandy soil of the Sudano-Sahelian eco-zone
Plant and Soil, Volume 340, No. 1, Year 2011
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Description
Nitrogen (N) rhizodeposition by cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is potentially a large N source in cropping systems of Sub-Saharan Africa. A field experiment was conducted to measure cowpea N rhizodeposition under the conditions of the Sudano-Sahelian zone using direct 15N labelling techniques to trace the amount of deposition and its transfer to associated and subsequent crops. Half of the total cowpea crop N was located below-ground at plant maturity, which exceeded 20 kg N ha-1 when intercropped with millet. Only 15% of the below-ground cowpea N was recovered in roots, while 85% was found in the rhizodeposited pools. The experiment demonstrated that direct below-ground N transfer occurred from cowpea to millet in intercrop at a rate of 2 kg N ha-1 over the growing season. Forty percent of the 25 kg below-ground N that the cowpea crop left at harvest were identifiable in the top 0.30 m soil in the beginning of the next planting season 7 months later; a pool still present at the end of that second season. Thus, the subsequent crop of millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) only recovered 2.5 kg N ha-1 from the below-ground cowpea pre-crop N during this growth season. The role and potential of cowpea as N provider has been underestimated in the past by ignoring the large proportion of N contained in its rhizodeposits. However, information is needed to determine how losses of the rhizodeposited N can be minimized to fully harness the potential of cowpea as N provider in agro-ecosystems of the region. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Authors & Co-Authors
Laberge, Guillaume
Denmark, Frederiksberg
Det Natur- og Biovidenskabelige Fakultet
France, Saint-beauzire
Limagrain, France
Haussmann, Bettina Irmgard Gabriela
Niger, Niamey
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics Sahelian Center Niamey
Ambus, Per Lennart
Denmark, Lyngby
Technical University of Denmark
Høgh-Jensen, Henning
Denmark, Roskilde
Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi
Statistics
Citations: 40
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s11104-010-0609-6
ISSN:
0032079X
Study Approach
Quantitative