Abstract
In Ethiopia, particularly Southern Regional State dry land crop productivity is majorly influenced by low soil moisture stress. The current study has been conducted to evaluate the effect of intercropping maize with legumes covers on Soil Moisture improvement at Misrak Azerinet Berbere woreda. Seven treatments evaluated were vetch with maize, lablab with maize, vetch only, lablab only, and maize only. The experimental design was in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in a permanent plot. Disturbed soil samples were collected from the intra-row spacing from both intercropped and non-intercropped plots from the depth of 0–20 cm and composited for soil moisture analysis. The yield and biomass of maize and legume shrubs have been collected. The Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was computed to evaluate the land productivity of intercropped combinations. The result reveals that in both years, yield, biomass, and soil moisture content were not significant (p > 0.05) at a statistically significant level. After crop harvest, maize with lablab has better soil moisture relative to other combinations (first year). In both years, the soil moisture content in the soil was reduced in the sole crop of maize compared with sole vetch. However, the soil moisture content in the soil was increased in maize intercropped with lablab in both development stage and after harvest compared with maize intercropped with vetch. Both legume shrubs under mono and intercropped conditions conserve soil moisture relative to maize under mono cropped conditions. This implies the benefit of legume shrubs on soil moisture conservation both planted under mono cropped conditions and intercropped conditions. It is concluded that the combination of intercropping maize with legume shrubs could substantially increase soil moisture conservation and improve the overall land productivity. Therefore, for maximum maize production, farmers in the area should plant maize with a combination of vetch and lablab. Additionally, farmers should practice double cropping with the residual soil moisture from legume and its combinations.
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