Tea shoot development was measured by sequentially sampling shoots from seven clones growing at Nsuwadzi Research Station, Mulanje, Malawi. A Gompertz growth curve best described the increase in shoot length with time, an exponential curve described the relation between dry weight and shoot length, and a quadratic curve related dry weight to fresh weight. The parameters of these curves differed among clones and provide a basis for exploring genetic influences on tea yield. The most rapid elongation of shoots of all clones occurred about 42 days after plucking, considered the optimum age for harvest at Mulanje. Clones selected at Mulanje produced longer shoots with greater dry weight but slightly lower dry matter content per unit stem length than clones selected at Kericho, Kenya. The dry:fresh weight ratio of 0.22 used at Mulanje to calculate dry matter yields was too high for most clones.

Uniform descriptions of developmental stages in crops improve communication among producers, researchers and others. This paper gives a uniform system for the description of the developmental stages of lentil that we believe is not only universally applicable to all growing environments (field or greenhouse) and to divergent cultivars, but also useful for single plants or communities of plants. Vegetative and reproductive development are described separately. Vegetative growth stages are described by counting nodes on the main stem and continuing the count up the basal primary branch to include the highest fully developed leaf. Reproductive stages Rl and R2 are based on flowering, R3 to R6 on pod and seed development, and R7 and R8 on maturation.

The nutritive value and yield of forage legumes and barley harvested as immature herbage, hay and straw were measured in two experiments. The voluntary feed intake of peas at all stages of maturity and immature herbage from woollypod vetch was substantially lower than that of common vetch and chickling. At each stage of maturity barley was less digestible than all the forages except immature peas. Despite exceptionally cold weather in February/March 1985, yields of common vetch were higher in 1984/85 than in 1985/86 when there was less rain. Peas yielded the most hay, and chickling yielded less seed and straw than common vetch, peas and barley. Yields of digestible dry matter from straw and seed exceeded those from hay but protein yield at the two stages was similar. Mechanical baling substantially reduced the yields of baled hay but these losses would be reduced to less than 10% if the residues were grazed.

The productivity of each component of a sorghum/groundnut intercrop and its constituent sole crops is determined in terms of a ‘Crop Performance Ratio’ (CPR) defined as the productivity of an intercrop per unit area of ground compared with that expected from sole crops sown in the same proportions. The CPR allows productivity, intercepted radiation and seasonal transpiration to be compared so that conversion coefficients for radiation (e; g MJ−1) and dry matter/water ratios (q; g kg−1) can be calculated for each intercrop component and its constituent sole crops. In this experiment, CPR for total dry weight in the intercrop was 1.08 and that for reproductive yield was 1.27. These advantages in overall productivity and yield were typical of those reported elsewhere for sorghum/groundnut intercrops. The proportional increase in total dry matter in the intercrop was largely a result of its greater interception of radiation. The further advantage in reproductive yield was a consequence of an improved harvest index in the sorghum component of the intercrop (0.64) compared with that of its sole crop counterpart (0.55).

The yield of ginger following different dates of planting and harvesting was investigated at Umudike. The largest yields of stem-tubers were obtained seven months after planting while maximum yield of shoots was attained five months after planting. The interaction of yield with time of planting and age at harvest was highly significant. Maximum yields were obtained from mid-April plantings harvested six or seven months later in two years with contrasting weather patterns.

The design of a low cost and relocatable rain out shelter used for drought studies in the field is described. This design, covering 162.5 m2, enables reasonable plot sizes to be used and minimizes aerial and sub-aerial edge effects. A fully retractable vinyl cover results in minimal modification of the surrounding crop environment.

Field experiments at 26 sites, selected on the basis of their varying degrees of zinc deficiency, showed that the critical deficiency levels of zinc for wheat were 0.60 mg kg−1 in the soil and 19 μg g−1 dry matter in 45-day-old plants. Further field trials at nine locations with varying levels of zinc deficiency showed successive increases in the grain yield of wheat with increases in zinc application, emphasizing the need for zinc fertilization when wheat is grown on zinc-deficient soils.

Topsoil depth and yields of sorghum, pearl millet and castor bean were found to be positively correlated when monitored over thirteen seasons under widely varying rainfall conditions on an Alfisol in Andhra Pradesh, India. Yields responded up to 2.5 times more to topsoil depth when rainfall in the critical period exceeded evapotranspiration than under drier conditions. Yield variations were explained by topsoil depth in cereals, and by the interaction between rainfall during the critical period and topsoil depth in cereals and castor bean (R2<0.72). The expected yield losses as a result of erosion, based on 56 years of rainfall data, were 138, 84 and 51 kg ha−1 cm−1 for sorghum, pearl millet and castor bean, respectively. Quadratic models explained the yield losses due to cumulative erosion under conditions of both poor and good rainfall during the critical period. Sorghum and pearl millet tended to produce no yield when erosion exceeded 34 cm and castor bean when it exceeded 40 cm. There was less reduction in yield when rainfall was poor, up to about 10 cm of erosion, than when rainfall was good. The results indicate that pearl millet and castor bean are more suitable than sorghum for low rainfall and eroded conditions.

When an intercrop fails to produce a required proportion of the sole crop yield, but produces a yield advantage over the sole crop, the method of sole crop supplementation has been suggested by many authors including Mead and Willey (1980) and Riley (1985). Modifications to the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER), used for assessing yield advantages, have been suggested and referred to as staple LERs (SLERs) and Effective LERs (ELERs). In this paper, a graphical method of estimating the SLER and ELER values (and consequently their yield advantages) is presented. The graphical estimation of the confidence interval for the SLER and ELER values is also shown.

Soyabean (Glycine max) is a relatively new crop for small-scale farmers in Zambia which has been adopted following the introduction of new cultivars, greater opportunity to obtain credit, easier marketing and an attractive guaranteed price. However, low yields limit production partly due to the lack of a planting method that establishes optimal populations. The present method is to plough and plant in the same operation, dribbling the seed behind the ox-plough. This often leads to uneven depth of planting, and hence to poor seedling emergence and erratic stands. Alternative planting techniques evaluated on farmers' fields for three seasons (1985/86–1987/88) suggest that farmers should replace their practice of planting behind the plough with either hand seeding following a plough–harrow operation or the use of a modified ox-drawn planter (Taparia).

Time to flowering of mung bean crops varies appreciably depending on the genotype, and the daylengths and temperatures prevailing during the period after sowing. Relatively little is known about the precise nature and inheritance of flowering responses to photoperiod and temperature. The combined effects of variations in these two factors on time to flowering were therefore evaluated in controlled environment studies on six genotypes and four F1 hybrids. The responses were examined for conformity with hypothesized linear models from which inferences might be made of the genetic control of flowering. The analyses suggest that all the genotypes and F1s tested were quantitative short day plants, with the possible exception of one line which may be day neutral. The analyses further suggest that time to flowering was influenced by four genotype-specific attributes: minimum time to flowering, critical photoperiod (Pc), responsiveness to photoperiod longer than Pc, and responsiveness to temperature. Among the genotypes tested, different values were observed for each attribute. In most instances, the values for the F1s were closer to one or other parent, indicating dominance rather than additive genetic effects. We conclude that, with several levels each, the four attributes provide the potential for a diversity of flowering response types within mung bean. Further, it should prove possible to manipulate the mung bean germplasm to obtain novel combinations of attributes, and thus to breed genotypes adapted to photothermal regimes not previously considered suitable for the crop.

Three short duration and one long duration groundnut genotypes, grown either ‘sole’ or as intercrops (in 1:1 ratios of the short duration with the long duration genotypes), were compared in four trials. The intercrop treatments resulted in Land Equivalent Ratios (LERs) of up to 1.25 for pod yield and total biomass despite moderate or severe water deficits at the end of the season. Specific combinations of genotypes were necessary to maximize the LER. The results indicate there is scope for achieving greater productivity in environments with a variable season length by growing late and early genotypes together in an intercrop system.

Much recent research has been directed at intercropping. Although the planning and analysis of these experiments often raises complicated statistical questions, many statisticians have concentrated on sophisticated graphical and numerical procedures for summarizing results, without considering what system of intercropping, if any, is on balance advantageous to the farmer and how its advantage is to be measured. This paper surveys aspects of intercropping that need examination before farmers can be advised, such as the value of produce, and the effects of intercropping on yields and costs. Any synergism of productivity occurring directly or in the longer term is a central but not necessarily decisive aspect of the problem. A recently described experiment is used as an example. The main conclusion is that experiments on these topics need to be large and well-designed, with repetition in several years, and that interpretation must allow for alternative sets of numerical values expressing values and costs.

Field experiments during the rainy seasons (July–October) of 1984 and 1985 at Hisar, India showed that removing weeds in pearl millet from 10 to 60 days after sowing led to fewer weeds at harvest, and significantly higher grain yields were obtained when weeds were removed 20 days after the crop was sown. All the weed control methods tried (hand hoeing, hand wheel hoeing, or application of terbutryne or atrazine) were successful and significantly increased crop growth and grain yield. The maximum grain yield was obtained with atrazine at 0.5 kg ha−1 and the minimum in the unweeded control.

Ten wheat and six barley genotypes were tested for their response to soil salinity regimes varying from 0 to 16 mmhos cm−1. Barley showed remarkable resistance to salt stress, linked to its capability to resist efflux of potassium ions from the plant system. Both crops showed substantial yield reductions at 12 mmhos cm−1, but barley still outyielded wheat by over 50%. There were significant interactions between salinity levels and genotypes in wheat but not in barley.The wheat variety Sonalika showed poor salt tolerance. The implications of these findings in breeding salt-tolerant varieties are discussed.

A field experiment was conducted on sandy loam soil at Hisar, India during the autumn seasons 1984–85 and 1985–86 to study root characters, evapotranspiration, water use efficiency, moisture extraction pattern and plant water relations of rape genotypes under varying irrigation schedules. Root volume and dry weight increased, while tap root and lateral root lengths decreased with irrigation. Increased irrigation frequency increased evapotranspiration but decreased water use efficiency. The relative water content and osmotic potential of the leaves increased with more frequent irrigation, but plant water retention capacity decreased. There were genotypic differences between the characters examined.

In recent studies of cassava at CIAT, net CO2 uptake rates of 20 to 35 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 were commonly observed. Cassava photosynthesis has a high optimum temperature (35°C) and a wide plateau (25 to 35°C) corresponding to the temperature range under which cassava is cultivated. Leaf photosynthesis requires high saturation irradiance (1500 μmol m−2 s−1) and the rates are greatly reduced by leaf-air vapour pressure differences above 1.5 kPa; this reduction is associated with stomatal closure. Cassava leaves have low photorespiration, low CO2 compensation point, high percentage of carbon fixation in C4 acids and a high PEP-carboxylase activity (15–35% of that in maize), but cassava does not have the typical ‘C4-Kranz’ anatomy. Field measurements of single leaf photosynthesis among a wide range of cultivars grown under rain-fed conditions showed that when light interception was not limiting, there were significant correlations between leaf photosynthesis, total biomass and root yield. This suggests that the use of parental materials with high photosynthetic capacity, in combination with other yield determinants, could be a successful strategy for developing high yielding cultivars. This might be done by exploiting any genetical variations in leaf anatomy and biochemistry that could enhance photosynthesis efficiency and hence productivity.

Shoot extension rates and numbers recorded over an 18 month period in Tanzania from three contrasting clones were analysed to determine variation between and within seasons. Clonal differences in base temperatures for shoot extension ranged from 10.3 to 14.5°C, whilst variability in the response of shoot growth rates to temperature could be ascribed to the shoot selection technique employed. Considerable clonal variation in shoot population densities occurred, with maxima ranging from 200 to 1200 shoots m−2. Total active shoot extension, the product of shoot growth rates and population densities, varied between 4 and 35 m m−2 week−1, shoot numbers being the dominant component. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of shoot measurement techniques, clonal selection criteria, yield modelling and harvesting policies.