EFFECT OF BACTERIAL INOCULATION • FERTILIZATION AND INTERCROPPING ON YIELD AND NITROGEN CONTENT OF SOME FORAGE CROPS

Abstract

This invstigation was conducted during the summer sea­ sons of 1990, 1991 and 1992 to test the performance of some newly introduced forage crops when cultivated on arable soils around High Dam Lake with the aim of selecting the most adaptable, high yielding crop(s) under the environ­ mental conditions of the area and with the use of selected rhizobia strains for inoculation, optimum nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization levels for maximum yielding. Three forage legumes namely; pigeon pea, siratro and guar, and the cereal forage crop millet were used in the experimentation.

Intercropping guar with millet using different levels of N-fertilization was experimented as a cropping system that may increase forage yield per unit area.

Screenhouse experiments:

In Summer season of 1990, three pot experiments were excuted in the screenhouse of the Agriculture Research Cen­ ter of the High Dam Lake Authority at Aswan using nine bradyrhizobia strains; separately, for seed inoculating each of the three forage legumes with the purpose of selecting the most efficient strain(s) to be used for inoculation of each crop under field conditions.

The data obtained showed that pigeon pea was nodulated best by strain USDA 3451, whereas strain USDA 3451 and USDA