The banana-bean intercropping system — bean genotype × cropping system interactions

Abstract

The intercropping of bananas ( Musa) and beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a common production system in several eastern African countries. In this experiment, 16 cultivars of non-climbing beans, including determinate and indeterminate types, were evaluated in sole crop and in association with bananas for three seasons in 1989 and 1990 to determine if selection of bean cultivars in monoculture can result in genetic progress for the banana-bean association. Cultivar × cropping system interactions were not significant for bean seed yield and the components of yield. Rank correlation coefficients of cultivar seasonal mean yields in monoculture to the overall cultivar mean yields in association were high and significant ranging from 0.50 to 0.84. This was consistent with the lack of cultivar × cropping system interaction. Numbers of pods and seeds per plant were more closely associated with intercrop bean yield than sole-crop yield. The results of this research have shown that evaluation of non-climbing bean genotypes for seed yield in monoculture provides sufficient information to select cultivars efficiently for the banana-bean intercropping system.