Effect Of Green Manure And Intercropping On Potato Production In The Western Highlands Of Cameroon.

Organic fertilizers are indispensable for vegetable cultivation in the western highlands of Cameroon. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the potential of Crotalaria grahamiana green manure as a source of organic fertilizer in addition to methods of producing the green manure. The treatments tested consisted of crotalaria green manure obtained from different cropping systems; chicken droppings; mineral fertilizer; combinations of crotalaria green manure and mineral fertilizer; combination of chicken droppings and mineral fertilizer and a control with no fertilizer input. The potato variety used was 'Spunta'. The results showed that green manure and woody biomass produced through simultaneous intercropping was significantly higher (P<0.05). Treatments with chicken droppings and mineral fertilizers had significantly (P<0.05) higher average crop cover fraction. There was no significant difference (P<0.05) amongst treatments with chicken droppings, combination of crotalaria green manure and mineral fertilizer, crotalaria green manure obtained from the intercropping system and crotalaria obtained from the sole cropping system. The lowest score on crop cover fraction was obtained from plots with no fertilizer input. The highest average fresh tuber weight was obtained from treatments with chicken droppings and mineral fertilizers and those treated solely with chicken droppings (234g and 231g respectively), followed by treatments with crotalaria and mineral fertilizer and crotalaria green manure sole (133.8g and 133.6 g respectively). Results obtained so far show that crotalaria green manure can contribute significantly as an organic fertilizer in potato production.