Growth of cassava cultivar TMS 30572 as affected by alley-cropping and mycorrhizal inoculation

Abstract

The effect of inoculation with Glomus clarum, a vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus, and alley-cropping on the growth of the cassava cultivar, TMS 30572, was investigated under field conditions in a low nutrient tropical soil. Cassava was grown either interplanted between two hedgerow tree species (alley-cropped) or sole-cropped. Sub-plots were either inoculated with G. clarum or were not inoculated. No effort was made to destroy the indigenous mycorrhizal fungi. Three months after planting, no significant influence of G. clarum inoculation was observed on the growth of roots, shoots or leaf area index (LAI). However, with time, inoculation and system of cropping enhanced these growth parameters. Nine months after planting, the total biomass of alley-cropped cassava was significantly higher than that of inoculated and non-inoculated sole-cropped cassava. Inoculation had led to an increase in the fresh tuber yield of both the alley- and sole-cropped cassava 12 months after planting. The LAI of both alley- and sole-cropped cassava inoculated with G. clarum increased.