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Linseed. A poor stand yielded 150 lbs. per acre. The crop is difficult to establish at Kongwa, but with very thick planting may be of value.
Cotton. Two varieties, Ilonga and MU 18, obtained from the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation Stations in Tanganyika, gave 135 and 265 lbs. of seed cotton respectively per acre. The growth was vigorous and good, but until the crop can be economically mechanised it is of little interest at Kongwa, where in any case conditions are probably too dry.
Niger oil. Seed of this crop was obtained from Southern Rhodesia, where it is in use as a green manure. The crop grew vigorously and covered the ground well. Planting was on February 13, and the crop was ready on June 2, a period of 110 days. The yields were 429 lbs. in one part of the field and 285 lbs. only in another. Further, the oil content was 26 per cent. only, against the usual value of about 40 per cent. Seed of an Abyssian variety, with an oil content of 46 per cent., has now been secured, and further trials will be carried out on account of the crop's ready growth and potentially high oil yield.
Sesame failed through insect attack, but in any case the Nebraskan seed used seemed ill-adapted to Kongwa conditions, perhaps on account of inadequate day length.
Various food legumes were tested, but were mostly failures owing to heavy insect attack. The few tolerably good yields per acre were of chickpea (500 lbs.), dwarf beans (182 lbs.), Lubia beans (230 lbs.), and green gram (225 lbs.).
Green manure crops. Lupins failed through insect damage, and beggar-weed gave about 200 lbs. per acre of seed from a poor stand. Sunnhemp gave a very good cover. Kavirondo fodder sorghum, Sudan grass (grain yield, 1,120 lbs. per acre in one case), Johnson grass (Sorghum alumum) (grain yield 1,580 lbs. per acre in one case) and Star grass (Cynodon plectostachyum) all did extremely well. Yellow manna arrived late, but grew vigorously and will be tested further next season. A planting of this crop on March 25 gave 186 lbs. per acre of grain in 87 days (harvest June 21).
Dwarf millet (Panicum miliare) produced a small crop (220 lbs. per acre) of grain in six weeks, but probably it is not of practical importance at Kongwa except as a possible fill-in crop after an early-harvested main crop. It would be difficult to mechanise.
Bulrush millet was a failure in the Kongwa area in the 1947-48 season, both in native production and at the Kongwa Experiment Station, owing to a failure of the rains at a critical period.
Buckwheat was practically a failure, having been sown in dry weather, but a låter broadcast plot showed promise. Early planting should give better results. Sweet potatoes grow well in spite of recurrent insect attacks, but the crop was completely harvested when ready by wild pigs.
Thatching grass (Hyparrhenia sp.) grew well at the Kongwa Experiment Station, but the culms were not long enough for use as thatch. It will be tried again in a damper situation.
Rotation experiments
A rotation experiment, testing 12 different rotations, was set out at Kongwa, but owing to the failure of some of the crops planted, and to other factors, it is not to be continued in the 1948-49 season. It seems better to concentrate first on establishing the correct cultural conditions in the various areas for a range of possible crops, by intensive experimentation. The results of this work could then be applied on a field scale as a tentative rotation policy, the while formal tests of various alternative rotations, and particularly of the best use of fertiliser in the rotation (which will in any case take a number of years to complete) could be instituted. The policy of the Department in these matters views the develop- ment of systems of farming, suited to the conditions of the various Regions in To this end which the Corporation is interested, as the ultimate objective. detailed studies of the behaviour of as wide a range of crops as possible will be pushed forward. The composition and testing of rotation sequences will then develop naturalgeaßo kentific basis from this work.Page 346 of 1097
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