Abstract:

Intercropping of sweetpotato with beans is common in highly
populated medium and high altitude areas of Uganda. Both sweetpotato
and bean are crops on which abundant research information is available.
However, knowledge is still lacking on how the two crops interact yvhen
grown in the proximity of each other. This problem was addressed by
conducting two sets of sweetpotato/bean intercropping experiments
between 1993 and 1995 at Namulonge Agricultural and Animal
Production Research Institute (NAARI), Kampala. The first experiment
aimed
at evaluating the
compatibility of different
sweetpotato
morphotypes with bean of different growth types. It consisted of eight
sweetpotato genotypes (Wagabolige, Entry 20, Entry 21, Bitambi, Tororo
3, New Kawogo and Tanzania) and four bean genotypes (White Haricot,
MMS 224, A 197, and GLP 585) in the 1993/94 season with the
objective to study the compatibility of the mixtures.
In the 1 994/95 season, six sweetpotato genotypes (Wagabolige, Bitambi,
Tororo 3, New Kawogo and Tanzania) and two bean genotypes (White
Haricot and GLP 585) were used. In both seasons double rows of bean
were planted with double rows of sweetpotato at densities of about
440,000 and 33,333 plants/ha for bean and sweetpotato, respectively, in a split plot design in four replications. The second experiment aimed
at determining the effects of spatial arrangements and plant population
density of sweet potato on the productivity of the components.