Chiredzi Research Station, P. O. Box 97, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe.
Intercropping cereal/legumes can improve crop productivity because legumes improve soil fertility. An experiment was carried out at Chiredzi Research Station semi-arid region of Zimbabwe. The objectives were to evaluate the impact of cowpeas/soybeans intercrop on maize yield; finding the most convenient planting pattern maize/cowpeas and maize/soybeans intercrop and assessing the performance of cowpeas/soybeans as supplementary source of nitrogen. The treatments were maize sole crop, legumes sole crop; one row legume; two rows legume; three rows legume; maize/legume same row; sole maize+40kgN/ha.; one row legume+70kgN/ha.; two rows legume+70kgN/ha and three rows legume+70kgN/ha. Results indicated that intercropped maize took significantly longer days to mature in both maize/cowpeas/soybeans intercrop compared to sole crop without topdressing. Maize1000 seed weight in maize/cowpeas intercrop increased significantly. Intercropping without topdressing was effective in terms of Land Equivalent Ratios. Intercropping same row maize/cowpeas increased residual nitrogen significantly. Intercropping maize/soybeans 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 without topdressing increased residual nitrogen significantly.