Article Sidebar
Article Details
The Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science accepts the manuscripts for consideration with the understanding that the manuscript has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Only original articles will be considered for publication if they have been published previously as abstracts, but not if they have been published previously as extended abstract (>1000 words). This applies to both electronic and print versions of the journal. The authors should assign copyright ownership to the Editorial Office of MEJS in the event that the manuscript is accepted for publication in the Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science. All accepted manuscripts must be accompanied by a copyright statement signed by all authors. A copy of the copyright form will be supplied along with the final reviewed version of the manuscript that is sent for final proof- reading. Authors may make multiple copies of the form if necessary and send to the Editorial Office with author’s signature(s) even individually.
All articles published by Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science (MEJS) are Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Under this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content, and anyone can copy, distribute, or reuse articles as long as the author and original source are properly cited. In all these cases for re-use, the authors will be given proper credit to the original publication in MEJS.
Main Article Content
Reduced Tillage and Intercropping as a Means to Increase Yield and Financial Return in the Drylands of Tigray, northern Ethiopia: A Case Study under Rainfed and Irrigation Conditions
Abstract
Intensive tillage is a major sustainability concern in cereal dominated cropping systems in the drylands of Tigray, Ethiopia. Hence, on-farm trials were conducted to investigate the yield and economic advantage of reduced tillage and intercropping for two seasons. A factorial experiment in a complete randomized block design was carried out at Adigudom located in Hintalo-Wajirat district in South-Eastern Tigray in 2014 (rain-fed) and 2015 (irrigated). The experiment consisted of four tillage frequencies (zero, one, two and four) and three types of cropping systems (sole maize, sole soybean and maize-soybean intercropping) in three/four replications. Maize, variety “Melkassa 2”, and soybean, variety “Awassa 91” were used. Grain and biomass yields, and harvest index of both crops were analysed. Yield advantage of intercropping was evaluated using land equivalent ratio (LER) and partial budget analysis was used for the financial evaluation. The grain and biomass yields of both crops were significantly increased (p<0.05) as the tillage frequencies increased from zero to four in both seasons but the frequent tillage with sole cropping was not economically viable as the two times tillage with maize-soybean intercropping gave 126% greater net benefit compared to the four times tillage sole maize, which is practiced by farmers in the study area. The net benefit was strongly influenced by the main effects of tillage and intercropping in both seasons (p<0.001) and by their interaction in 2014 (p<0.05). Significantly higher LER (1.87-2.12) was recorded from maize-soybean intercropping over sole cropping in all the tillages and both seasons. Hence, two alternative options are suggested that farmers could apply in the drylands of Tigray: (i) keeping the sole cropping culture of maize production, and reducing number of tillages from 4 to 2 that would give 374%and 705% Marginal Rate of Return (MRR), respectively, under the rainfed and irrigated conditions compared to zero tillage sole maize; or (ii) intercropping maize with soybean and reducing tillage frequency from 4to 2 that would give 608% and 585% MRR in the respective growing seasons, compared to zero tillage maize-soybean intercropping. Taking these results into account, two times tillage combined with maize-soybean intercropping can be a good option in dryland areas of Tigray to achieve higher total intercrop yield at a low cost and larger LER. Moreover, reduced tillage can minimize soil degradation and benefit farmers with poor access to draft power or female-headed households constrained with labour for ploughing.
Keywords: Tillage; Intercropping; Maize; Soybean; Tigray; Ethiopia.
Please find erratum for this article here: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/mejs.v11i1.10
