Potential of Lablab purpureus accessions for crop-livestock production in the West African savanna

Abstract

The introduction and use of herbaceous legumes may contribute to agricultural intensification, especially in the context of sustainable crop and livestock production systems. In the context of evaluating different legume species for these systems in moist savanna zone of West Africa, the present study involved the evaluation of 46 accessions of Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet between 2000 and 2002 at Samaru, Zaria in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria to identify accessions with the potential to contribute to grain or forage production and those with the potential for multiple use. Grain yields (0·6–2·4 t/ha) with a mean seed crude protein and phosphorus content of 25·3 and 0·46 g/kg, respectively, were obtained. Dry matter yields (leaf: 0·3–3·1, stem: 0·2–4·6, root: 0·03–0·3 t/ha) were produced between 40 and 140 days after planting. Within this same period up to 1152 kg shoot crude protein/ha, equivalent to 184 kg N/ha, were recorded for accessions. Ten accessions that may contribute to grain production, eight accessions that may contribute to forage production and six accessions with drought tolerance were identified. Some white-seeded accessions (Grif 1246, ILRI 4612 and PI 183451) with good grain and forage yield and high-protein content have the potential to provide more and higher quality food for people and feed for livestock. The observed potential to contribute to grain production for protein-rich food, feed for livestock and green manure for soil N improvement suggests lablab may be an acceptable legume option for use in cereal-legume-livestock systems in the moist savanna zone of West Africa.

Utilization potentials of lablab (<i>Lablab purpureus</i> (L.) Sweet) and the constraints of field pests and diseases in Nigeria

“…Of the forty six lablab accessions evaluated, fifteen accessions were suitable for vegetable pods, 11 accessions were suitable for grain-type lablab and three accessions were suitable for food-feed use (Ewansiha et al, 2007b; ) was comparable with yields obtained with other grain legumes (Ewansiha et al, 2007a; Table 3). The lablab grain had an average protein concentration of 25.3% which was comparable with protein contents reported for the dry seeds of the common grain legumes (Table 3), indicating the potential for lablab to contribute to high quality grain nutrition.…”

“…Lablab has a potential for up to an average of 2600 kg ha -1 of biomass and an average of 64.1 kg of nitrogen ha -1 (Ewansiha et al, 2007a; Table 4). This means that lablab has high potential for green manure and soil improvement.…”

“…Sixteen accessions were of good and high quality forage (Ewansiha et al, 2007a; Table 8). These accessions have potential to improve crop and generate residue, which promises to be the dominant feed resource as crop-livestock integration becomes more developed (Smith et al, 1997).…”

Lablab effect on soil properties and subsequent maize-cowpea intercrop

“…Among several legumes studied, Cheruiyot et al (2001) reported highest increase in soil N in lablab plots, which was due to high residue quality. Ewansiha et al (2007) reported up to 184 kg N ha -1 for lablab shoot. The higher soil P and K obtained in plots planted to PI 388013 may indicate that this accession is better able to mine soil P and K from deeper soil horizons.…”

“…Lablab (Lablab purpureus [L.] Sweet), a multi-purpose legume used for food, fodder, soil improvement, soil protection and weed control (Ewansiha et al, 2007), may be grown as a component crop in mixed farming systems (NAS, 1979). In northern Nigeria, lablab provides food for humans, fodder for livestock and income from the sale of grains and fodder (Bhat and Etejere, 1985;Thomas and Sumberg, 1995;Iwuafor and Odunze, 2000;Adeoye and Onifade, 2000).…”