Groundnut/Cassava/Maize Intercrop Yields over Three Cycles of Planted Tree Fallow/Crop Rotations on Ultisol in Southern Cameroon

Lack of crop yield response to planted tree fallow led to introducing a two-year fallow phase to determine if planted tree fallow can improve soil fertility and yields over a no-tree control. Three cycles of two years fallow followed by slash-and-burn land preparation and one year of groundnut/cassava/maize intercropping were conducted with Senna spectabilis, Flemingia macrophylla and Dactyladenia barteri as planted hedgerow fallows and a no-tree control on an Ultisol in southern Cameroon. The land had been continuously cropped to maize/cassava intercrop for 5 years previous to the first two-year fallow phase. Groundnut grain yields were unaffected by fallow system in 1998 and 2001 and the sum of the three cropping years. Maize grain yield was unaffected by fallow system in 1998. In 2001 and 2004 maize grain yield was highest in the S. spectabilis system. Total maize grain yield across the three cropping years was higher in the F. macrophylla and S. spectabilis systems than in the D. barteri syst...