From: "Werner Ristow"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005
I am working on developing conservation agriculture production systems for small unit farmers (1 ha or less arable land) the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. Climate varies from sub-tropical through to temperate (light snowfalls and regular frost) over a distance of about 150 km. The "cool" areas are on the foothills of the Drakensberg bounding on to the Kingdom of Lesotho - where I have a friend working on a similar programme.
Looking for some assistance on the following.
1. Faba Beans
On CIDICCO web page found information of using faba bean (Vicia faba) as a GMCC (Green Manure Cover Crop) together with potatoes. This must make it a summer grown crop - I am accustomed to it as a winter grown crop. If my assumption is correct, under what climatic conditions does one consider using faba beans as a summer crop??
2. Chinapopo Beans
Locally, Phaseolus coccineus is recommended in preference to Phaseolus vulgaris for cool humid areas. Also found information @ CIDICCO on its use combined with maize. The local variety of P. coccineus is a large white bean with white flowers - known locally as Kidney Beans. I am wondering if in the process of selection for commercial purposes, traits will have been lost which may be useful in a system of inter-cropping.
Any comments firstly on its use combined with maize, and secondly on using this commercial variety inter-cropped with maize as opposed to a "less commercialised" variety such as the Scarlet Runners?
3. Lathyrus Pea
Locally, I have found what appears to be a Lathyrus pea growing wild and collected seed since I was impressed by the rather vigourous growth. Does anyone have any advice and information of using Lathyrus as a GMCC - especially for small unit operators?
Thanks in Anticipation,
Werner Ristow
Massive Food Programme
Department of Agriculture: E. Cape
Private Bag X3523
Kokstad 4700
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
______________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005
From: Marguerite Wells
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates
To: MULCH-L@cornell.eduDear Werner,
I only have experience using faba beans, not the others. Whether using the large or small seeded fabas (bell beans), I have only gotten good germination during cool wet weather. Here in the northeast US, we plant it in April, early spring, or in September, early autumn. Once germinated and growing, they don't seem to mind hot weather, so can be a summer cover if seeded while the weather is still cool. If winter is harsher than light frosts and a dusting of snow, it will die.
Marguerite Wells
(Cornell Univeristy)______________________________________________________________ From: "Ben McNeill"
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005
I also was interested in the CIDICCO information, and have planted P. coccineus, Vicia faba and some Lathyrus species in small scale trials here in New Zealand at 39S, cool oceanic frost-free climate (mean air temp 15C). My experience has not been favourable with any of them. The Lathyrus species I can obtain are ornamental cultivars, and the beans are selected for cropping rather than vegetative vigour. This has meant the cover crop has not been able to compete with weed pressure, especially against Paspalum grass in summer.
The other problem I have is unreliable summer rainfall. While Chinapopo is a vigorous species in high altitude tropical wet summer climates, here it struggles in a dry summer. Some years we get cool wet summers, in these conditions even the commercial selections thrive for me. Usually this bean lacks vigour, and is overtaken by weeds. Faba bean is best in winter here, chinapopo in autumn, losing its leaves and dormant around late July.
I have searched for an appropriate alternative, and have come up with two promising species. The best seems to be the South African native Dipogon lignosus, which in NZ is so vigorous that it has been banned from propagation nation-wide because of its weed potential. It is drought and cold hardy, and has high N fixation, while producing a bean crop which I understand to be of useful quality, and commercially utilised in some areas (Pakistan?). Specimens here in NZ are reminiscent of Lablab purpureus which I am familiar with as a banana cover crop in Australia, and NZ Dipogon seem to easily block out weed competition. I would love to trial this plant here, but cannot. I presume you have considered this? Perhaps the local population do not enjoy the beans?
The species which seems to have most potential for me as an orchard ground cover is Kennedia macrophylla, native to the West Australia coastal areas south of Perth. This plant has large leaves which seem able to suppress Paspalum, and good vigour, without being uncontrollable. It is not an edible species, so perhaps would not be suitable in a non-orchard situation. While Kennedia does climb, this has not been a problem for me (yet!). I intend to do foliage sampling at some stage to evaluate N-fixation, but have not done so yet. It does seem to nodulate readily with existing rhizobia.
Ben McNeill
New Zealand
______________________________________________________________ From: "Donald Kass"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005
Dear Werner,All three of the GMCCs you mention are grown in the highlands of Guatemala during the rainy season --with some success -- only Phaseolus coccineus is native. The rainfall during the summer months, when they are grown is quite intense. There is a considerable disease problem in the favas, due to Botrytis (chocolate spot) though I think part of the problem is due to the fact that it is associated with maize which has been planted closer together as land became scacer providing a better environment for disease development in the favas which might not have existed 50-100 years ago.
The farmers in Guatemala all told me that they used to plant the maize in their milpas (cornfields) further apart. I did try to bring more disease resistant favas from Italy and Syria -- with only limited success since when planted between maize, all material showed limited resistance to botrytis. They generally did better as a monocrop. In contrast to Spain, Guatemala has a rainy summer and a dry winter. However, some people called the winter summer (verano) because it was dry and the summer winter (invierno) because it was wet because that is how it was in Spain.
Phaseolus coccineus is very disease resistant and can tolerate wetter climates than beans -- the only crop we could grow in the dry season in Guatemala was lentils. Phaseolus coccineus is a climber so requires support --if you hope to harvest beans. It generally rained from May to November but the most intense rains were in June and September.
They would plant the lathyrus in the milpas in August after the maize had flowered. Some people planted chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) in the milpas at the same time. The chickpeas wouldn't flower until February when frosts had supposedly passed. For some reasons, Guatemalans ate a mixture of chickpeas and honey during holy week so there was some sort of market for chickpeas that matured around April. However, when I tried the system, the chickpeas flowered in February and didn't survive the frost. However, they flowered again in April so I did get a crop. The Lathyrus used in Guatemala was Lathyrus nigrivalis.
I hope this is helpful. I can probably get more information if you need it.
I don't know who in Guatemala is working on these crops at this time.
Very truly yours,
Donald L. Kass
(New York)
______________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
From: Don Lotter
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climatesLink below to Lathyrus grown in Central American highlands (Choreque). Choreque is I believe Lathyrus nigrativus, but I can't Google it. Worked with it (1978) in Guatemalan highlands with Mayan farmers. Grows so vigorously that it was abandoned as GMCC and no longer used much by the Mayan farmers, who only have machetes and azadon (jembe) to till it under.
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/lamer2.htmlDon Lotter
Agriculture Program
Imperial Valley College
Imperial, CA 92251
______________________________________________________________
From: "Mureithi Joseph"
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu> (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooller climates
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005
Dear Werner,
We screened some low DOPA Lathyrus pea accessions from ICARDA in a high altitude (1800 masl), cool (11oC min. and 29oC max.) and dry environment (600 mm annual rainfall) in Kenya. We got grain yield of an average 1 t per ha and stover yield of about 1.3 t per ha. The grew pretty fast; in 4 weeks they had attained a ground cover of about 44%; 50% flowering and podding were achieved at 46 and 54 days on average, respectively. An article about this work is reported in the 11th issue of the Legume Research Network Newsletter posted in the following website; (http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/ciepca/lrnpnews.html). Their fast growth make them suitable as cover crops and their relatively high grain yield (in our case compared to the common bean) makes them suitable as a food crop.
Regards,
Mureithi Joseph
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute______________________________________________________________ From: "Rolando Bunch"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005
Dear Friends,Interesting discussion. And I am very glad to hear that green manures are being looked into more in South Africa. We frankly don't know much about applying them in that environment. Anyway, I'll weigh into the discussion here.
Fava beans, broadbeans, habas (Vicia faba): In Latin America, as far as I know, fava beans are always grown at high altitudes (colder areas). In Mexico and Peru, for instance, they grow vigorously well above 10,000 ft (approx. 3,000 mt). But in Egypt and the Sudan, I saw fava beans being grown along the banks of the Nile. It must be a very different variety, because the fava beans we have in Latin America wouldn't withstand that amount of heat. The Latin America varieties apparently withstand frosts at about any time except flowering time. They can be (and are) grown either together with maize, or as a monocrop. In some places people don't realize they can be eaten (and are highly appreciated, including by my own mother-in-law) green, like a lima bean, as well as dry, either roasted or fried. They are considered very tasty in all the different ways they are prepared. Since the plant is vertical, it doesn't control weeds as well as some of the others.
Scarlet runner beans, Seneca bean, chinapopo, ayocote, piloy, frijol cacha, etc. (Phaseolus coccineus): Farmers in Latin America, far as I know, always grow these in association with maize. They are perfectly capable of keeping maize yields constant for a couple of decades on the same land, year after year. There are both white-flowered and orange-red flowered varieties. Again, the bean is edible and quite tasty. It has the advantage of producing a tremendous amount of biomass, and grows a little slower than the maize, so they make a good combination (no problem of the maize's being covered). The major problem with this association is that the runner bean produces SO much biomass that if there is any wind toward the end of the growing cycle, the maize will not stand the weight and will lodge (fall over). Thus, most farmers in Latin America only plant the runner bean perhaps one plant every three mts in each direction (ie one plant per 9 mt sq of land). This is unfortunate. I have some people right now trying a denser pattern, but with tefrosia growing in between to hold up the whole system. We'll see how that works.
The runner bean produces a tuber that lives for about three years, producing a new plant each year when the rains come.
In Latin America, we make no distinction between "chinapopo" (a Honduran name), and scarlet runner bean in general, so I can't comment on that. Here, a typical farmer's handful of seed will have kernels of 10 or 15 colors all together. Great biodiversity!
Choreque (Lathyrus nigrivalvis): Lathyrus nigrivalvis, called choreque in Guatemala, and that name seems to be spreading, is an inedible, extremely vigorous legume which, nevertheless, is very limited in its usefulness. First of all, it does not grow well without rhizobium, so the first year or two in a new soil, if not artificially innoculated in some way, it generally does not grow well. Secondly, it requires cold weather, but will not withstand anything more than a very light frost, so its ecoloogical range is extremely limited. Basically, it will grow only around 6,000 ft in Guatemala, and mostly on hillsides (where the frosts are less severe). It also grows very slowly the first three or four months. Thus, when intercropped with maize (planted May-June), it grows very slowly until the maize is harvested (in November-December), and then grows like mad through the six months of colder dry season (with virtually no rain). The control of weeds is very poor early in the plant's growth, almost complete during its later development.
There may be some confusion here. The Kenyan Lathyrus may not be choreque, but rather the grasspea (Lathyrus ?). I have seen it being grown in the highlands of Ethiopia. It is edible and people eat it, but is not recommended for human consumption because it causes some health problems (damaged joints, I think). It would be good to distinguish which you have.
The grasspea is apparently grown monocropped, and creeps along the ground until it finds something to climb on.
I hope this is useful.
Sincerely,
Roland Bunch
World Neighbors______________________________________________________________ From: " Mureithi Joseph"
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu> (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooller climates
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005
Roland,
Your are right. The Kenyan one is Lathyrus sativus L. commonly known as "grass pea".
Joseph
______________________________________________________________ From: Milton Flores-Barahona
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climates/ Lupin
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005Joseph and Roland:
I also agree that this has been one of the most interesting discussions of 2005 on mulch L. It was pleasing for us to know that people found information at the CIDICCO´s web site. We were doubtful about the data provided by our web counter, which showed more than 18 thousand visitors from more than one 100 countries last year!!!
A minor consideration to the Lathyrus taxonomy. We have reviewed several bibliographic references and have not been able to find any mention of L. "nigrivalvis". Might be an old classification. We do have references to L. sativus and L. latifolius, which, according to other Honduran colleagues, is the species we got here, originally brought from Guatemala. Other species mentioned in the literature are: White Pearl Rose Queen; L. magellanicus (Lord Anson's Pea); L. pubescens; L. rotundifolius; L. odoratus (Sweet Pea); L. vernus (Spring Vetch) & var. Alboroseus, mostly European/Mediterranean species.
Anyways, there are plenty of sites on the internet that provide useful information on Lathyrus. See for example:
http://www.clima.uwa.edu.au/news/lathyrus/vol3ed1
http://www.clima.uwa.edu.au/__data/page/968/White.pdfFinally, and acknowledging my complete ignorance about the climatic and soil conditions in South Africa, I would like to mention another potentially beneficial cover crop green manure. Lupinus, used extensively in in the potato systems of the the Andean regions and known as tarwi, tarhui or chocho, as well as in the subtropical conditions of Southern Brazil where it is known as "tremoso." Here, lupin was perhaps the most important green manure until it was eliminated because of the appearing of what seemed to be a bacterial disease, which damaged its root system. However, three years ago, I went back to the region and lupin was being cultivated again although not in the same proportions as it used to. To the best of my knowledge, such occurrence has not been reported in the Andean region.
Saludos afectuosos,
Milton Flores
CIDICCO
Honduras
______________________________________________________________ From: Marcel Janssen
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: Re[2]: GMCC's in cooller climates/ Lupin
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005
Dear Milton, Joseph and Roland (the list is getting longer),
According to good old faithfull J.W. Purseglove, the grass pea Milton and Roland talk about (L. sativus) is native of southern Europe and western Asia. It is mostly grown in India as a cold weather crop, as well as in northern Sudan. They are very hardy and will germinate and grow on land too dry for other crops. They will tolerate waterlogging and a wide range of soil conditions, including poor soil. They are often grown as a catch-crop in the rice fields, both as a grain and as a fodder. It's usually broadcast with a seed rate of 35-40 lb per acre. It matures in 4 - 41/2 months. Yields of 900-1,000 lb per acre of dry seeds are obtained and 1,200 - 1,400 lb. of hay.
(This is almost literal from J.W. Purseglove, Tropical Crops, Dicotyledons, 1984, Longman Essex, UK, first published in 1968).
It doesn't mention anything about the side effects of human consumption Roland mentioned, but then again, it's not all too complete in that area either. Besides that, it does sound as the wondercrop for the poor.
Kind regards from Honduras.
Marcel
______________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu
From: Peter Hobbs
Subject: Re[2]: GMCC's in cooller climates/ LupinDear All: Lathyrus is a common crop grown after deep water rice in Bangladesh. It does have an alkaloid that causes Lathyrism and so this could be a problem. I Googled it and came up with this web page. http://twmrf.com/new_page_4.htm I believe the Bangladesh government had restrictions on its use for humans. Not sure if it affects animals. I am also not sure if they cook it a certain way to prevent this problem. There are lines available in India that have low alkaloid content, but not sure how you get some seed.
Hope this helps.
Peter Hobbs
(Cornell University)
______________________________________________________________ From: " Mureithi Joseph"
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu> (MULCH-L)
Subject: Breeding low toxin Lathyrus sativus
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005
Dear Marcel,
Here is some information regarding DOPA, the chemical present in the grass pea that can be harmful to human health. The article reports some good work by ICARDA of breeding toxin (DOPA) free accessions of the legume.
Regards,
Joseph Muriethi______________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005
From: Lucy Fisher <lhf2@cornell.edu>
Subject: GMCCs in cooler climates
More on Lathyrus (GMCCs in cooler climates):
Below is part of a message sent to mulch-L by Don Kass <dclk9@hotmail.com> last Saturday. It is part of the general discussion on GMCCs in cooler climates (South Africa). The entire on-going discussion (beginning Sept. 25) is being archived at http://mulch.mannlib.cornell.edu/ml/gmccsoafrica.html.
-Lucy
(Mulch-L list manager)
More on the classification and use of Lathyrus (following Milton's posting on Sept 30):
Lathyrus nigrivalvis Burkhart is listed by the Missouri Botanical Garden (go to their website) so the foremost authority on tropical american flora recognizes the species. Their type specimen was collected in Argentina so the species is apparently quite widespread --if what they use(d) in Guatemala is indeed Lathyrus nigrivalvis.
I never knew of anyone in Guatemala feeding choreque as they called Lathyrus nigrivalvis to livestock. I never followed the whole cropping sequence involving choreque --as its use seemed to be diminishing in Guatemala when I was there (1978-1981). Since tillage in that region tended to be minimal, farmers probably just left it to be killed by winter frosts (they planted it in August), and then only prepared the area where they would plant maize (usually associated with beans and favas) the following spring. They would often push the soil from the adjoining maize hills over the area to be planted the following year at the end of the dry season so as to conserve moisture in the zone of future planting. It was quite a complex system. I do have a report that I prepared for AID on my activities in Guatemala. It is about 50 pages long and is done from a pre-mulch viewpoint --I must have written in about 1983 --but I can send anyone a copy who wants it.
We also described the system in Kass, D.C.L. and Somarriba, E. 1999. Traditional Fallows in Latin America. Agroforestry Systems 47: 13-26. It would be good to know more about this system and document it before it disappears.
Don Kass
______________________________________________________________ To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
From: Dieudonne Baributsa
Subject: Re: GMCC's in cooler climatesDear Werner,
We have been testing AC Greenfix a variety of chickling vetch (Lathyrus sativus L.) in Michigan (US) for the past three years. It look like it does well when the weather is cool.
Here are some web sites where you can get more information about Lathyrus sativus L.
http://www.acgreenfix.com/Index.html
http://www.johnsonseeds.com/greenfix.htmRegards,
Dieudonné Baributsa
Graduate Research Assistant
A-176 Plant and Soil Sciences Bld
Crop and Soil Sciences Departement
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: Office: (517) 355 0271 Ext. 172
______________________________________________________________ From: "Rolando Bunch"
To: MULCH-L@cornell.edu (MULCH-L)
Subject: RE: GMCCs in cooler climates
Date: Tue, 04 Oct 2005
Dear mulchers,Don is right about choreque having largely died out in highlands Guatemala (for a series of reasons, including the increrased growing of vegetables in the few areas it was used). But it was, in fact, widely used for feeding animals. I even have photos (from the mid-70's) of farmers using donkeys to carry choreque foliage back to their homes in order to feed their animals.
Sincerely, Roland
______________________________________________________________ From: "Werner Ristow"
To: <MULCH-L@cornell.edu> (MULCH-L)
Subject: GMCC in Cooler Regions
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005
A follow up to my initial posting.
Thanks for the responses to my query. This was the first time that I made use of the forum and it was a very interesting experience. Kept my initial query short, but more information will allow you to better understand my position and possibly put you in a position to add to your initial response.The main crop planted by our farmers will be maize, which means that most fields will be planted to maize for the period Oct till April – when most moisture will be available. Other popular crops are sorghum, dry beans and potatoes. What we are trying to do is to develop a conservation agriculture / DMC system under the conditions. That a system of direct seeding, permanent soil cover and rotational cropping.
We experience some of the problems common to people starting conservation agriculture. Examples being:
1. Conservation Agriculture and associated use of GMCC’s is unknown to many
2. As one Brazilian said there is a major compaction problem between the ears
3. There was no equipment available locally for small operators, especially animal draft equipment, we have imported some from Brazil
4. GMCC seed is not available for Mucuna, Canavalia, Crotolaria (except C juncea) while lab-lab seed is imported from Malawi and only arrived in February (three months too late).
5. Most local farmers are actually livestock farmers who plant some crops, with an age old tradition of grazing the crop residues during the winter – this will be the major hurdle to overcome in our quest for conservation agriculture.The area is of altitude 1 500 – 2 000 m asl and has a mean annual rainfall of 700 – 800 mm with 80 – 85 % of the rainfall over the period October – April (inclusive). Rainfall in June and July is so low (10 mm) that in many years a GMCC is not likely to survive through the winter. The mean monthly minimum temperature in June & July is of the order of 2 oC, and temp as low as -5 oC can occur. Up to three light snowfalls are expected between June and September but normally melt off within one to four days – this year there was no snow at all.
Under these climatic conditions, we cannot copy practices we saw in Brazil & Paraguay. The temperatures as well as rainfall are too low to be able to consistantly grow a GMCC over the period May - October. So we are looking for something different. Basically we are looking for something to replace the mucuna. A colleague from our ARC (Agricultural Research Council) has demonstrated the beneficial effects of lab-lab, but this gets frosted off before setting viable seeds – which means that the farmer has to buy in seed annually. Cowpea (Vigna ungiculata) was not as successful as lab-lab
Initially we just want to get a maize system working properly. Has anyone got some experiences from cool highland areas they would like to share?
Faba Beans
Not a widely planted crop in South Africa. I have never seen the beans offered for sale in a supermarket – but this may not be true for some of the large cities. So far, I have traced only three varieties which are commercially available, two in small foil packets for home garden and one as an animal fodder. A colleague informed me that the fodder variety has a tannin content in the seeds so high, that these are not palatable to the human tongue. All our varieties have extremely large seed (15 – 20 mm), which will mean a large mass of seeds will need to be planted. If we can show Faba to be a good GMCC, we will have to import some additional small seeded varieties.Can someone refer me to some more information on growing faba together with maize?
Chinapopo Beans
The white Kidney Bean is quite well known as a crop amongst large scale commercial farmers in some cool humid areas. I have never seen it used by small unit farmers – not as a monocrop nor as inter-cropped. It was only after I started searching on the Internet that I discovered the local Kidney Bean was P. coccineus. The Scarlet runner was grown as a decorative plant or for green beans – is also known as Yard Bean because of the long pods of certain selections. Scarlet Runner seed is no longer available on the market and all I have managed to get are four seeds a store keeper had kept. The reason I have differentiated between the Scarlet Runner and white variety is that in my mind these were two different plants.My fear is that the local variety has been grown under conditions of high levels of fertilizers and even disease control, and as a result, the inherent effective nodulation and diseases resistance may have been decreased if not lost. What we will do, is to work on the assumption that the local variety will do the job and plant it this year, and then work on getting some seed of other selections imported in time for next years planting season.
Lathyrus
After some more investigation, it would appear that the seed I have collected is of Lathyrus sativus. Unfortunately, it only flowers in about October with the seed ripening in December, which clashes with the planting time for most crops.What I have not puzzled out yet, is whether the seed should be planted in spring or in autumn.
Lupins
Did not include these in my initial query because I am more comfortable with these, and there are locals who can be approached for assistance. Lupins are mostly grown as a winter crops, but research has shown that it can be successfully grown as a spring planted crop – planted in August. Lupins in South Africa were extremely popular some 40 years ago grown widely as a green manure and also as a fodder crop particularly for sheep. The advent of cheap nitrogen fertilizers as well as fungal root diseases lead to a major decrease in lupin cultivation, but this is changing now.Are there any experiences out there of using lupins together with summer crops?
Thanks
Werner Ristow
Massive Food Programme
Department of Agriculture: E. Cape
Private Bag X3523
Kokstad 4700
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA