Yield and seasonal water productivity of sunflower as affected by tillage and cropping systems under dryland conditions in the Limpopo Province of South Africa

• Published in: Agricultural water management 2011-08, Vol.98 (10), p.1641-1648
• Main Authors: Mzezewa, J., Gwata, E.T., van Rensburg, L.D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; arid lands; basins; Biological and medical sciences; conventional tillage; Cowpea; Cowpea Dryland Precipitation use Sunflower Tillage Water harvesting; Cowpeas; Cropping systems. Cultivation. Soil tillage; Crops; Dryland; field experimentation; food production; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Cropping systems and patterns; grain yield; Grains; Helianthus annuus; intercropping; Marine; Precipitation use; rain; Runoff; Seasons; soil; Sole; Sunflower; Sunflowers; Tillage; Vigna unguiculata; Water harvesting; water use efficiency
• ISSN: 0378-3774; 1873-2283
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2011.06.003

► We examined two tillage systems and two cropping types. ► The in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) and the conventional tillage (CT). ► Sole sunflower, sole cowpea and sunflower × cowpea intercrop. ► IRWH resulted in significant increase in sunflower grain yield, WUE and PUE in the second season. ► WUE and PUE were significantly greater in sole sunflower than in the intercrops. Sustainable food production in semi-arid tropical countries can be achieved through efficient utilization of rainwater. A field experiment to assess the grain yield, seasonal water use (WU), water use efficiency (WUE) and precipitation use efficiency (PUE) of sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.) intercropped with cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata L.) on two tillage systems was conducted during the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 cropping seasons at the University of Venda (22°58′ S, 30°26′ E at 596 m above sea level). The experiment was configured as a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design with three replications. The tillage treatments were conventional tillage (CT) (control) and in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) system. The IRWH is a special crop production technique that promotes runoff on 2.0-m wide no-till strip between crop rows and collects the runoff water in basins where it infiltrates into the soil profile. The treatments in the cropping system (CS) consisted of a sole crop (sunflower or cowpea) and an intercrop (sunflower × cowpea). Results of the experiment revealed that IRWH led to a significant ( P < 0.05) increase in sunflower grain yield in the second season but cowpea grain yield was not influenced by tillage systems. IRWH resulted in significantly higher WU, WUE and PUE of both crops compared to CT system in the second season. The CS had significant effects on sunflower grain yield in both seasons but none on the cowpea grain yield. WU was significantly higher in intercrops than in sole cowpea and sole sunflower in the first and second season, respectively. WUE and PUE were significantly greater in sole sunflower than in the intercrops but less in the sole cowpea than in the intercrops.