Abstract
ABSTRACT The witchweed, Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth., is a major constraint to maize ( Zea mays L.) and sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] production in sub‐Saharan Africa. Intercropping maize and sorghum with desmodium ( Desmodium spp.) effectively controls Striga and enhances grain yields. Studies were thus conducted to assess the potential role of intercropping maize and sorghum with different food legumes for control of Striga Seasonal Striga counts in the intercrops, other than greenleaf desmodium where the counts consistently remained close to zero, were generally not significantly different from those in the control in both crops. A pooled analysis across seasons, however, showed that intercropping sorghum with cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], greengram [ Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], and crotalaria ( Crotalaria ochroleuca G. Don), and maize with crotalaria significantly reduced Striga populations. Within‐season analysis showed that it was only the greenleaf desmodium intercrop that maintained significantly enhanced grain yields relative to the control. On the other hand, multiseason analysis showed that it was only the crotalaria, cowpea, and greenleaf desmodium intercrops in maize and greenleaf desmodium intercrop in sorghum that significantly enhanced grain yields. These results indicate that intercropping sorghum with cowpea, greengram, or crotalaria and maize with crotalaria could be combined with other cultural methods for a sustainable control of S. hermonthica.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Greenleaf desmodium kept Striga counts close to zero.
Sorghum
Zea mays
StrigaNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“greenleaf desmodium where the counts consistently remained close to zero”
t0“Maize and Sorghum”
e1“Seasonal Striga counts in the intercrops”
Claim · model-written summary
Other intercrops generally did not significantly change seasonal Striga counts from control.
- Treatment
- intercropse0
- Outcome
- Striga countse0
- Direction
- not significantly differente0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Seasonal Striga counts in the intercrops, other than greenleaf desmodium where the counts consistently remained close to zero, were generally not significantly different from those in the control in both crops.”
t0“Maize and Sorghum”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, cowpea intercrop significantly reduced sorghum Striga populations.
- Treatment
- cowpeae0
- Second interactor
- cowpea
Vigna unguiculatae0other - Outcome
- Striga populationse0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“intercropping sorghum with cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], greengram [ Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], and crotalaria ( Crotalaria ochroleuca G. Don), and maize with crotalaria significantly reduced Striga populations.”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, greengram intercrop significantly reduced sorghum Striga populations.
- Treatment
- greengrame0
- Second interactor
- greengram
.jpg?width=60)
Vigna radiata var. radiatae0other - Outcome
- Striga populationse0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“intercropping sorghum with cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], greengram [ Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], and crotalaria ( Crotalaria ochroleuca G. Don), and maize with crotalaria significantly reduced Striga populations.”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, crotalaria intercrop significantly reduced sorghum Striga populations.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“intercropping sorghum with cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], greengram [ Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek], and crotalaria ( Crotalaria ochroleuca G. Don), and maize with crotalaria significantly reduced Striga populations.”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, crotalaria intercrop significantly reduced maize Striga populations.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“and maize with crotalaria significantly reduced Striga populations.”
Claim · model-written summary
Within seasons, only greenleaf desmodium significantly enhanced grain yields.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Within‐season analysis showed that it was only the greenleaf desmodium intercrop that maintained significantly enhanced grain yields relative to the control.”
t0“Maize and Sorghum”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, crotalaria, cowpea and greenleaf desmodium intercrops significantly enhanced maize grain yield.
- Treatment
- crotalaria, cowpea, and greenleaf desmodium intercropse0
- Outcome
- grain yieldse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“only the crotalaria, cowpea, and greenleaf desmodium intercrops in maize and greenleaf desmodium intercrop in sorghum that significantly enhanced grain yields.”
Claim · model-written summary
Across seasons, greenleaf desmodium intercrop significantly enhanced sorghum grain yield.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“greenleaf desmodium intercrop in sorghum that significantly enhanced grain yields.”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend pairing the identified intercrops with other cultural methods for sustainable Striga control.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“intercropping sorghum with cowpea, greengram, or crotalaria and maize with crotalaria could be combined with other cultural methods for a sustainable control of S. hermonthica.”
The same questions in other papers
Vigna unguiculata · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
106 papers in the same direction as this paper · 16 in the opposite direction · 4 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- negative
- negative
123 papers more in this group
See all 127 papers →Desmodium intortum · yield · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
Vigna unguiculata · Striga · SorghumResults agree
5 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
2 papers more in this group
See all 6 papers →intercropping · yield · SorghumResults differ
117 papers in the same direction as this paper · 42 in the opposite direction · 5 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- positive
- negative
161 papers more in this group
See all 165 papers →intercropping · Striga · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 5 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
3 papers more in this group
See all 7 papers →intercropping · Striga · SorghumPositive and negative results
6 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
3 papers more in this group
See all 7 papers →intercropping · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
612 papers in the same direction as this paper · 181 in the opposite direction · 40 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- no effect
- no effect
830 papers more in this group
See all 834 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.