Yield Comparison of Nonstructural Carbohydrates in Sweet Sorghum and Legume-Based Cropping Systems

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted during dry (2009/10) and wet (2010) seasons to evaluate sweet sorghum–legume-based cropping systems for soluble sugars and starch production. Treatments were composed of two types of legumes (mung bean, soybean), two planting patterns (alternate single rows, alternate double rows), and two times of seeding (simultaneous, staggered) together with three monocrop treatments of sweet sorghum, mung bean, and soybean in randomized complete block design. Key observations indicated that the average yields of soluble sugars and starch were significantly reduced in intercropping systems in both seasons, due to partial or interactive influence of treatments considered. Yields of soluble sugars and starch were increased by 6 and 11% in the dry season and by 5 and 19% in the wet season in sweet sorghum–soybean and sweet sorghum–mung bean associations, respectively, when established with staggered seeding compared to those in simultaneously seeded combination or in monocropping of sweet sorghum.

Keywords:

• Intercropping
• legume
• planting pattern
• soluble sugars
• staggered seeding
• starch
• sweet sorghum

Acknowledgments

Thanks are extended to Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan and Agricultural Systems and Engineering Department, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, for providing financial support for this research project. We also thankful to Naveed Anwar (CEO, AIT Consulting), Wattanaporn Meskuntavon, Abdul Waheed, and Muhammad Shahzad Sarfraz for their technical and moral support during experimentation.