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On-farm integration of forage legumes into cereal cropping systems in the Ethiopian highlands Lupwayi, N.Z.; Tedla, Abate & Regassa, Hailu Abstract An on-farm trial, in which a wheat-clover mixed cropping treatment was compared with un-fertilised (control) and N-fertilised (23 kg N ha-1) pure wheat treatments, was conducted at Ginchi (2200 metres above sea level (m asl)) and Deneba (2600 m asl) in the Ethiopian highlands. Compared with the pure wheat control, inclusion of clover in the wheat at Deneba produced significantly more fodder dry matter (DM) (5.20 vs 3.16 t ha-1), with higher N yield (36.35 vs 12.68 kg N ha-1) and in vitro DM digestibility (51.7 vs 45.2 %), without reducing wheat grain yield significantly (1.93 vs 1.98 t ha-1). At Ginchi, even more fodder (9.58 vs 3.12 t ha-1) with higher N content (117.05 vs 15.03 kg N ha-1) and DM digestibility (48.6 vs 34.9 %) was produced under mixed cropping, but this occurred at the expense of wheat grain yield (0.91 vs 1.39 t ha-1). The N-fertilised wheat produced the highest grain yield at each site. Clover DM, nodule number, nodule size, nodule activity (internal colour) and nitrogen yield were all higher at Ginchi than at Deneba. In the second season, no residual effect of clover on wheat yield was detected. However, on the basis of the increase in feed quantity and quality, with little effect on wheat grain yield in the first season, it can be concluded that integration of wheat and clover production has potential to increase fodder availability for dry season feeding of livestock in the Ethiopian highlands. Keywords Clover, mixed cropping, on-farm, vertisols, wheat

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Lupwayi, N.Z.; Tedla, Abate & Regassa, Hailu Résumé Un essai la ferme, dans lequel les trefles du ble melangees au traitement de la culture etait compae avec un controe non fertilise et N-fertilise ( 23 kg N par hectare) des traitements du ble de qualite pure, ete mene a Ginchi ( 2200 m au dessus asl) dans les regions montagneuses ethiopiennes. Comparativement au conte du meilleur ble, l'inclusion des trefles dans le ble abondamment produit Deneba a donne plus de matieres seches du fourrage (MSF) (5.20 contre 3.16 tonnes par hectare), avec un abondant rendement N (36.35 contre 12.68 kg N par hectare) et une digestibilite DM in vitro (51.7 contre 45.2%), sans reduction drendement abondant des grains du ble (1.39 contre 1.98 tonnes par hectare). A Ginchi, il y a meme plus de fourrages (9.58 contre 3.12 tonnes par hectare) avec le plus haut contenu de N (117.05 contre 15.03 kg par hectare) et la digestibilite DM (48.6 contre 34.9% etait produit sous une culture mixte, mais cela eu lieu aux depens du rendement des graines du ble N fertilise a produit le plus grand rendement de grains dans chaque centre. La trfle DM, le nombre de nodule, la dimension du nodule, l'activivite du nodule (couleur interne) et le rendement du nitrogne etaient tous plus eleves Ginchi que Deneba. Au cours de la seconde saison, let non residuel de la trefle sur le rendement du ble etait detecte. Cependant, c'etait sur la base de l'augmentation de la quantite et la qualite, avec moins det sur le rendement de grain du ble pendant la premire saison, on peut conclure que la production du ble a le potentiel d'augmenter la disponibilite du fourrage pendant la saison seche pour nourrir le betail en regions montagneuses ethiopiennes. Mots Clés Trefle, culture mixte, sur terrain, vertisols, du ble

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