Cultivation Of Legumes

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Welcome to class! 

In today’s class, we will be talking about the cultivation of legumes. Enjoy the class!

Cultivation of Legumes

Legumes are usually grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts, and tamarind.

Many farmers understand the value of growing legumes along with their main crops, or between harvests. The legumes replace nitrogen used by crops. They also provide a cover for the soil to help protect it from heavy rains and strong winds. The roots of the legume plants hold the soil in place

	COWPEA (Vignaunguiculata)	GROUNDNUT (Arachis hypogea)
Description	Cowpea is a member of the pulses or legumes. It belongs to the family Leguminosae. It is rich in protein. The fruit of cowpea is called Pod.	Groundnut is a dual-purpose crop. It serves as an oil crop as well as a pulse or leguminous crop. However, it is grown mainly for its oil. The seed gives about 40-45% of excellent edible oil.
Varieties/cultivar	Erect type, creeping type, Ife brown, Ife bimpe	Bunch or erect type, creeping type, Kano local, Kano 50.
Land preparation	Clearing the land and making ridges either manually or mechanically.	Clearing the land and making ridges either manually or mechanically.
Climatic requirement	The temperature of 27o-35oC, Rainfall of 60-125cm per annum.	The temperature of 25o-30oC, Rainfall of 70-100cm per annum.
Soil requirement	Well-drained sandy loamy soil	Coarse textured sandy loamy soil which is slightly acidic and rich in calcium and phosphorus for pod formation.
Method of propagation	By seeds	By seeds
Planting date	April to September depending on the ecological zone.	South – March / April       North – May / June
Planting	Planting can be done manually or mechanically at 2-3 seeds per hole.	The planting can be done manually or mechanically at 2-3 seeds per hole.
Seed rate	20 – 25kg per hectare.	30 – 35kg per hectare.
Spacing	Erect type – 30 x 75cm, Creeping type – 25 x 90cm	Erect type – 60 x 15cm    Creeping type – 60 x 20cm
Cultural practices	Supplying, thinning, weeding fertilizer application, control of pests and diseases.	Supplying, thinning, weeding and control of pests and diseases. Groundnut does not need fertilizer application except on very poor soil.
Maturity period	9 – 12 weeks after planting depending on varieties.	3 – 4 months after planting.
Harvesting	Hand-picking of matured brown pods.	It is ready for harvest when the leaves turn yellow and begin to wilt. It is done by uprooting the plant manually or mechanically and allowing to dry for easy removal of pods.
Processing	Sun drying, threshing and winnowing.	Sun drying, removal of seeds from the pods by slightly pounding in a mortar or using a decorticating or shelling machine.
Uses	A source of plant protein for man Serves as a cover crop It serves as forage legumes It is used for making green manure.	Used for making oil For making a cake to feed man and farm animals For making groundnut butter.
Storage	Seeds are stored in jute bags silos or airtight container after proper drying. Seeds should be treated with insecticide and the store fumigated to prevent weevils attack.	Dried groundnut seeds are stored in silos or rhombus. Unshelled pods are stored in jute bags.

Evaluation

1. Mention the pre-planting operations in cowpea cultivation
2. Mention three uses each of a) groundnut b) cowpea
3. Outline five importance of legumes

Reading assignment

Answer question 9 on page 178 of Essential Agricultural Science by O. A. Iwena

Cultivation of roots and tubers

	YAM (Dioscorea spp)	CASSAVA (Manihot spp)
Description	Yam belongs to the family Dioscoreaceae.  It is a root and tuber crop grown in West Africa and it is rich in carbohydrates.	Cassava is a root and tuber crop, rich in carbohydrate. It is easily cultivated and can grow in relatively poor soil.
Varieties/cultivar	Water yam (Dioscoreaalata) Yellow yam  (Dioscoreacayenesis) White yam (Dioscorearotundata) Bitter yam (Dioscoreadomentorum Aerial yam (Dioscoreabulbifera)	Sweet cassava (Manihotutilissima) Bitter cassava (Manihotpalmata)
Land preparation	Clearing the land and making ridges either manually or mechanically.	Clearing the land and making ridges either manually or mechanically.
Climatic requirement	The temperature of 25o – 30oC, Rainfall of 100cm – 180cm per annum.	The temperature of 21o – 35oC, Rainfall of 150 – 200cm per annum.
Soil requirement	A well-drained sandy-loamy soil, rich in humus.	Dried loamy soil. It can also tolerate poor soil.
Method of propagation	By yam seeds or yam sets.	By stem cuttings (25 – 30cm long).
Planting date	Early yam – November / December   Late yam – March / April	March to September depending on the ecological zone.
Planting	Open a hole on the ridge using a hoe and place one yam sett inside with the cut surface turned upward and slantly placed at an angle of 45 degrees	2/3 0f the stem cuttings are buried in slanting position or at an angle of 45 degrees.
Seed rate	3 – 5 tonnes per hectare
Spacing	90cm x 100cm	100cm x 100cm.
Cultural practices	Mulching, weeding, application of fertilizers, staking, training of vine.	Weeding and fertilizer application.
Maturity period	8 – 12 months depending on the variety.	10 – 15 months depending on varieties.
Harvesting	This is done by digging the soil gently with a cutlass to remove the tuber from the soil.	This is done by digging the soil gently around the tubers and pulling the stem gently so that the tubers are pulled along or use cassava puller.
Processing	It can be processed into yam flour.	It can be processed into cassava flour, garri or foofoo.
Uses	It is consumed by man and farm animals.	It is consumed by man and farm animals.
Storage	Yam tubers are store in barns.	Cassava is stored in processed form in sacs.

Evaluation

1. List three cultivars of yam and their botanical names.
2. Name the soil and climatic requirement, planting material, maturity period and planting date in cassava cultivation

General evaluation

1. Discuss the cultivation of yam under the following subheadings A. method of propagation B. planting date and planting C. harvesting D. soil and climatic requirement
2. Discuss the production of a named legume under A. varieties B. soil and climatic requirement C. method of propagation D. planting (e) harvesting
3. State four uses of groundnut.
4. Discuss the cultural practices in yam cultivation.

Reading assignment

Answer question 2 on page 177 of Essential Agricultural Science by O. A. Iwena

Theory

1. Discuss the following practices in yam cultivation A. staking B. mulching C. training of vine
2. Outline four importance of legumes.

 

In our next class, we will be talking about Agricultural Ecology.  We hope you enjoyed the class.

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