Green Manures and Cover Crops

• The International Cover Crop Clearinghouse
• Enthusiasm for Cover Crops
• Green Manure Crops Offer Tremendous Advantages to the Small Farm in the Third World, by Roland Bunch
• What We Have Learned to Date About Green Manure Crops for Small Farmers, by Roland Bunch
• Innovations in Green Manures
• Jack Bean Report
• An Obscure Use for Jack Beans
• Commercial Lablab Varieties
• Sunn Hemp as Green Manure
• Tropical Kudzu Used as Green Manure in Zaire
• Velvet Bean Success in the Republic of Benin
• Legume Cover Crops in Orchards or Plantations

THE INTERNATIONAL COVER CROP CLEARINGHOUSE (CIDICCO is the Spanish acronym, for Centro Internacional de Informaci¢n sobre Cultivos de Cobertura) was established in 1990 to provide an exchange of ideas, information and experiences among groups and individuals interested in promoting cover crops among village farmers. They collect and distribute information on leguminous cover crops and green manures from both scientists and practitioners in the field, document field experiences with cover crops, publish technical reports and the newsletter "Cover Crop News," and coordinate networking among members. (ECHO is normally able to provide packets of seed for any of the plants they mention.)

The publications are often field experience-based descriptions of cover cropping systems (highlighting velvet bean, lablab, jack bean, and other legumes) and management practices. Clear information regarding cultivation is given to help you adapt the system in your area. The publications give a very balanced perspective on the use of cover crops, defining where they can be useful as well as mentioning limitations for the farmer. Most are available in Spanish and English and cost $1.50-2.50; write CIDICCO for a publications list.

The director of the program is Milton Flores. Milton would love to hear from you whether you are experienced with green manures or just beginning to try them. You do not need to be an "expert." If there is something going on in your community which he might like to see, be sure to describe it. To receive their newsletter write: Milton Flores, CIDICCO, Apdo. 4443, Tegucigalpa, MDC, HONDURAS; phone (504) 32-7471, 32-9870, 39-5851; fax (504) 39-9896; e-mail cidicco@nicarao.apc.org. 

ENTHUSIASM FOR COVER CROPS is contagious. Roland Bunch wrote, "Our extensionists in Honduras who have worked in some of the most successful programs in Central America told me several times that they have never before seen a technology develop so much enthusiasm and take off with so little program effort. They have done virtually no promotional work on it, yet it is taking off like wildfire. The program is harvesting seed by the 100 pound bag and cannot meet even a fraction of the demand." He mentioned that one farmer told him he is saving $100 per year in coffee purchases by using the roasted beans of one ground cover, velvet bean, as a coffee substitute. Doug and Ruth Welch mentioned that it is used in this way in Zaire also. 

GREEN MANURE CROPS OFFER TREMENDOUS ADVANTAGES TO THE SMALL FARM IN THE THIRD WORLD (1985). By Roland Bunch, at the time with World Neighbors, Honduras. (Now a consultant with COSECHA, Apdo. 3586, Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS, Central America.)

Green manure crops are crops which are grown to be turned under to increase soil fertility. Leguminous green manure crops, i.e. those which can make nitrogen fertilizers from atmospheric nitrogen, can offer small-scale third world farmers a tremendous number of advantages:

1) They provide large quantities of nitrogen for the soil.

2) They add many tons of organic matter to the soil, thereby improving topsoil depth, water-holding capacity, nutrient content, friability, and texture of the soil.

3) Since the green manure crop grows in place, it presents no transportation problems, in contrast to either compost or chemical fertilizers.

4) Green manure crops require absolutely no capital outlay after the initial purchase of seed. They require no chemical inputs, so dependency on outside sources of fertilizer, nutrients, and pesticides is reduced.

5) Green manure crops can shade the soil up to eleven months out of the year, a factor extremely important in tropical climates for preservation of soil moisture and organic matter.

6) The cover they provide for the soil protects the soil from wind or water erosion.

7) Green manure crops provide generous amounts of high protein fodder for animals, which can be especially valuable if it is available during the last months of the dry season (since fodder at this time of year is the limiting factor in traditional animal-raising in much of the third world).

8) Some green manure crops provide human food, including various kinds of edible beans, peas, and pods.

9) Green manure crops can provide a cash income, by selling firewood, food or feed (and maybe seed).

10) They often provide an incentive for people to abandon harmful traditional practices, such as burning crop residues or letting animals loose in the dry season to devour everything in sight.

11) Some green manures can control weeds when intercropped with grains, eliminating costly weeding operations.

Something like 30% of all the increases in harvests achieved by small farmers in the third world during the last three decades has been achieved through the use of chemical fertilizers. Should petroleum prices shoot up once again, as could easily happen sometime in the next decade, prices of chemical fertilizers could easily become too expensive to be economically feasible for use with traditional basic grains. Almost overnight, third world basic grain production could plummet, causing famines the extent of which would make the present situation in Africa seem mild by comparison. Widespread use of green manure crops could avert much of this impact.

Comparison with Compost. As composting is a technology that is often recommended for third world development programs, it might be useful to compare composting with the use of green manure crops.

1) Compost merely decomposes the organic matter one already has, whereas a green manure crop can often add over 40 tons of additional organic matter per hectare. Inasmuch as organic matter is often in short supply on villagers' farms (or is already being recycled), this is an important consideration.

2) At best, compost will return to one's field about 98% of the nitrogen one started out with. A green manure crop, however, will add considerable quantities of new nitrogen to the system.

3) A compost heap takes a tremendous amount of work, as anyone who has made one can attest. Though compost will often pay in a vegetable garden, it is not economical when used on basic grain crops such as corn or millet. On the other hand, although a green manure crop takes a bit of labor to plant (using a dibble stick) and a fair amount of labor to incorporate, it takes much less labor then a compost heap. And in some cases where the green manure crop is intercropped among traditional crops (such as corn, sorghum, or millet), it covers the ground so well that one or even two weeding operations can be eliminated, thereby actually bringing a net savings in labor.

4) Compost heaps require water, so they are made near a water supply but at a distance from where they will be applied. Green manure crops take advantage of available rain water, and are planted where they will be used.

5) Compost cannot be used as a food source, either for animals or humans.

A Few Ideas About What to Look For. The major problem with green manure use around the third world is that village farmers cannot afford to give up land in order to grow "just" a soil amendment. Or when they have the land, they cannot spare the labor. However, there are three ways in which these objections can be overcome. In many situations only one of these will be appropriate, in others two. Only rarely is none of them appropriate.

1) Green manure crops can often be planted among traditional row crops, especially corn, sorghum, and millet, without decreasing the production of the main crop at all the first year, and usually with major increases in the major crop in succeeding years. The major instance in which this is not possible is when people are already intercropping two or three other crops with their major grain.

2) Green manure crops can often be intercropped with basic grains toward the middle or end of the growing season, with the idea that their major growth would occur during the dry season, thereby using land that would not ordinarily be under cultivation.

3) Where multiple-year fallows and/or shifting agriculture is used, green manures can be planted on land the first year it is to go fallow, cutting the fallow period to one year instead of 3-15 years.

What characteristics should we look for, then, in a legume that will be useful under these circumstances?

1) It must be a non-woody annual with vigorous growth.

2) It should grow well in the poorest of soils in the area, without needing any kind of fertilizer.

3) One must be able to plant it in local fields with no special soil preparation, and either with a dibble stick or, preferably, by broadcasting the seed.

4) The plant must have few natural enemies so that it will grow vigorously without pesticides or major labor requirements.

5) The legume should either be very shade-resistant (for intercropping) or drought-resistant (for growing into or through the dry season).

6) If possible, it should first cover the ground well, then climb any stalks that remain in the field.

7) If possible, the green manure crop should be edible by animals and/or humans.

Some Already Known Possibilities. For details on species used as green manures, see the following article.

Miscellaneous Observations.

1) What can be done in areas where animals are let loose during the dry season while the green manure crop is still growing? One approach is to first show people the results of the green manure plant on an enclosed piece of land. Next get a good number of people to try it out, perhaps timing the planting to get a good start before the animals are let loose. Those who experiment first can often be motivated to spread the word to others with the idea that the destruction for each person will be less if more people plant it. Eventually, if enough people plant it, community pressure will make everyone keep his animals locked up (except in cases where the person with all the animals is a large landowner).

2) On very steep hillsides, something must be done to keep the organic matter from washing away. Piling crop residues along rough contour lines can help, as can contour ditches. Another possibility is incorporating the green manure immediately after cutting it, but this is hard work before the rains come (if the soil is a heavy one), and once the rains have come, people generally do not have extra time.

3) On flatter land, the green manure should usually be cut and allowed to dry for a couple of weeks before incorporating it (if during the dry season). The labor saved in incorporating it will be worth more to the farmer than the small amount of fertility lost. In one case farmers cut holes in the Canavalia (jack bean) cover to plant corn when the rains came, cut down the Canavalia entirely about two weeks later and replanted the Canavalia. Then, two weeks later, they incorporated the dead Canavalia vegetation. In this manner, they avoided both weeding operations in their cornfields!

4) Where weather is unreliable, a combination of similar plants, one of which is more drought-resistant (e.g. jackbean and velvetbean) reduces risk of total loss, yet assures a vigorous crop if rains are plentiful.

5) In West Africa, we are trying a system of planting a perennial every sixth row (pigeon pea), and then gathering the corn or millet residues under the pigeon pea plants at the end of the year, to be distributed six months or so later when well-mixed with pigeon pea leaves, which have a better carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. The presence of the pigeon pea trees (already known as a cash crop) will also prevent burning of residues.

6) On South and Southeast Asian hillside areas, Leucaena leucocephala is planted as a contour barrier and constantly pruned, thereby providing erosion protection, some green manure, and firewood (see the booklet produced by World Neighbors called "Leucaena-based Farming"). This produces less green manure than other systems, but can be used where green manure cannot be intercropped among traditional crops.

7) We certainly would welcome any experience you have in this subject. Much more information and experimentation must be done. We are still learning about this, but the positive response from hundreds of villagers and dozens of other programs has made us decide to share what little we know as soon as possible so we can all work together to learn more about it. I would think that, right now, the most important subjects we need to learn more about are: a) What legumes will work above 1,800 m? b) What additional plants will work at any elevation? c) Do adaptive research to see which of these technologies will work outside the Southern Mexico/Central American habitat that this information comes from. d) Which legumes can be broadcast rather than planted with a dibble stick? e) Which of these green manure crops provide the best yield increases with which basic grain crops? f) What green manure crops would be best under high rainfall conditions? 

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED TO DATE ABOUT GREEN MANURE CROPS FOR SMALL FARMERS (1987, contributed by Roland Bunch). [CIDICCO (see above) now offers the recent technical report "The Use of Green Manures by Villager Farmers" (1995, 7 pp., by Roland Bunch) in English or Spanish for US$3 including postage. Those considering implementing and promoting a green manure (GM) system would benefit from reading this article. It outlines the following topics: advantages and disadvantages of GMs for villager farmers, achieving the adoption of GMs, research priorities, and promising species for low, intermediate, and high elevations.] Here we present a few other insights from Roland Bunch regarding GM systems and the species often incorporated into the system.

In spite of the advantages of green manures, their use seldom became common among farmers in the third world. They cannot afford to give up scarce cropland just to grow a soil amendment. If they do have the land, they cannot afford the labor. Nor are they generally willing to spend money to improve crops grown for subsistence, because they earn no money from them with which to replace what they have spent.

World Neighbors/Central America has found a number of ways to overcome most of these problems to the extent that farmers have accepted green manures faster than any other agricultural technology with which we've worked through the years. One program sold 65 pounds of seed last year to local farmers and 1500 pounds this year in the same area with minimal promotion.

To summarize some ways to produce green manure without reducing at all the land used for other crops: (1) Plant among traditional row crops. (2) Intercrop near harvest of the first crop timed so green manure will grow primarily during the dry season. (3) Where shifting agriculture is practiced, plant during the first fallow year to shorten the fallow period. (4) Plant under fruit or coffee trees. (5) Plant leguminous trees along soil conservation ditches on hillsides. (6) Alley cropping. In Central America our work has used the first four possibilities. We have had the most success with jack bean and velvet bean.

Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) is an incredibly drought-resistant, shade-tolerant, hardy legume that grows well in extremely poor, droughty soils (and apparently less well in fairly fertile soils). There are two kinds of jack bean, one that climbs and thoroughly covers the soil, and another that has a bushy growth habit and does not climb at all. It begins flowering after 4-5 months, then produces seed pods continuously for at least the next year. It will grow through some 5-6 months of dry season if above about 600 meters and can serve to shade the soil during this time to prevent loss of organic matter. Under 500 meters it will often stop growing after about 3 months without rain and may even drop its leaves if soils are thin and temperatures exceptionally high. The stem will become somewhat woody, but only if left for seed and under fairly warm conditions.

Jack beans grow vigorously at sea level, and can be used as a green manure crop up to about 1600-1800 meters. It does not thrive in soils with excess water. They do very well in corn fields, but are preferred over velvet beans only when it is too dry for velvet beans to thrive. This tends to be the case where corn has been replaced with sorghum or millet due to insufficient rainfall. I have seen it grow vigorously on soil so badly eroded and depleted that no weeds would grow there at all.

The jack bean will be eaten by grazing animals, but is liked less than other green manures. Hence jack beans are preferable where animal damage is feared. Non-climbing varieties are proving to be very good for weed control and nitrogen fixation under fruit trees. It has virtually no natural pests or diseases. Its leaves are sprinkled on leaf-cutter ant hills to eliminate them. [Ed: I am told that ants carry leaves into the mounds as food for the fungi upon which they live. Jack bean leaves reportedly kill the fungi. Dr. Warwick Kerr in Brazil writes that planting sesame near the mounds has a similar effect].

Jack bean should be planted in soil that has been cultivated within 3 years and weeded very recently (although at elevations below 500 meters or in sandier soils, cultivation may not be needed). We use 4-5 seeds per square meter in order to control weed growth. (In corn fields an important advantage of this and the velvet bean is that use of these plants may entirely eliminate at least the second weeding). Jack bean has even been planted in fields already intercropped with both corn and beans in Haiti (Bois de Laurence) without much adverse effect on even the beans. If planted in a corn or sorghum field, it should be seeded within 15-30 days of the primary crop, depending on climate, speed of growth of the other crop, etc. It can be planted with a dibble-stick (at 2 seeds/m2) or broadcast (at 4 seeds/m2), though if broadcast it will take another 2 weeks or so to germinate unless soaked in water overnight before planting.

People can eat immature pods like green beans when they are about 7-8 inches long. In Southeast Asia the mature beans are eaten, but we have not been able to find out how. Cooking must be sufficient to eliminate certain substances in the mature bean that inhibit the assimilation of calcium by the body.

In summary, jack bean can be used in grain fields, under orchard trees or to shorten fallow periods, but is not as vigorous as the velvet bean and should be used only when conditions are too severe for the velvet bean to do well. Under borderline conditions, perhaps mixtures of the two would function best.

Velvet bean (Mucuna spp. and other scientific names) is by far the most promising green manure that we have worked with in Central America. It covers the soil completely and then climbs as high as its support allows (up to well over 6 meters). It is highly palatable to animals and has found wide acceptance in our Honduras program areas as a coffee substitute. Especially encouraging is that there are at least 4 large areas where velvet bean use has spontaneously spread from village to village without any outside intervention (in Mexico to shorten fallows and in Honduras to intercrop with corn).

Velvet beans first cover the ground almost completely, then climb vigorously. Where corn stalks are present, it will eventually form a mat of leaves at about the top of the stalks, with little more than stems and pods underneath. Stems remain thin and nonwoody throughout the plant's life. The plant dies after it has set seed. [Ed: Seeing velvet bean growing to the tops of pine trees at ECHO prompts many to ask if it might not take over like kudzu in the southeastern USA. This might happen were it not that the plants die after seed set. It was a major U.S. crop for years, and I never heard of such problems.]

Sometimes velvet bean roots produce solid clusters of dark red nodules that are 4 cm. in diameter. We think that heavy nodulation occurs most frequently in infertile or sandy soils. Like jack bean, the velvet bean will volunteer heavily the second year if seed is allowed to mature and fall on the ground. In fact, farmers in Chiapas get good growth each year in their corn fields without bothering to reseed it. They harvest 4 T/Ha. of monocropped corn planted year after year on the same land under typical jungle conditions, using chemical fertilizer plus velvet bean.

About the only soils in which velvet bean has not done well for us are those that are waterlogged or have a pH of 4.5 or less. Like the jack bean, it needs to be planted in a field that is either sandy or has been cultivated within the last 3 years. Velvet bean will take a bit cooler climate than jack bean, but still does best at sea level and does poorly over 2,000 meters. In cool climates it will grow 3-4 months into the dry season, but is not as drought-resistant as jack bean. Velvet bean grows even more vigorously than jack bean under less harsh conditions, but in areas of severe drought, jack bean will out-perform velvet bean.

The velvet bean is presently our species of choice, in most cases, for growing in corn fields, rehabilitating depleted land, and weed control. It has been used in Guatemala and parts of Honduras to eliminate serious weeds such as nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus), Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and imperata grass (Imperata cylindrica).4 I am not aware of what is required to do this, though I would guess that the grass must be cut back and the velvet bean then allowed to grow a full 6 months in order to choke out the weeds.

It is an extremely good, fairly palatable high-protein fodder for most animals, especially cattle, and is eaten by virtually all animals except, sometimes, chickens. Thus, like the lablab bean, it can be an important source of high protein fodder well into the dry season, when many domestic animals are losing weight for lack of food.

We were taken off guard by the degree of acceptance of the dry beans as a coffee substitute. Having introduced it as a coffee stretcher (to be used 50-50 with coffee), we found that people were soon drinking it straight. Use is so widespread after just one year that a group of women is roasting and grinding the bean and selling some 40 pounds a week under the name "nutricoffee."

Like the jack bean, velvet bean is native to Central America. However, there are two kinds. The more common one has an extremely irritating itchy powder on the mature pod. Villagers who know this plant will not want to plant the non-itchy-powder varieties until they have been shown that the pods are harmless. We would under no circumstances recommend that anyone use the irritating kind with small farmers.

Slugs damage velvet bean in warm climates (though much less than regular dry beans). Rabbits, leaf-cutter ants (its only serious insect pest here) and iguanas are other pests. In some locations rats used the velvet bean stems to climb up and eat the corn. Planting the beans later or cutting its tendrils when it gets too large has helped with this problem. It must be watched and cut back if planted near trees.

Everything said above about planting jack bean also applies to velvet bean. However, fine tuning is needed to determine when to plant velvet bean in local corn fields. This is affected by speed of growth of the native corn, climate, soil fertility and existence of problems with rats. One should plant as soon after the corn as possible to get maximum velvet bean growth and weed control, but not so soon that the velvet bean outgrows the corn or causes rat problems. Especially in fertile or heavily fertilized soils, the velvet bean grows very rapidly and may even need to be pruned once to retard its progress.

Corn crops growing where velvet bean or jack bean have been incorporated can often do extremely well without any initial fertilization with chemicals, but will often show signs of nitrogen deficiency by tassling time. Farmers in our programs in Honduras almost always add a side dressing of urea to these crops. In general we recommend this practice where fertilizer is available and affordable. Over the long run, one would think phosphorous would also be needed, but in the short-run neither visible symptoms nor level of yields would indicate much problem with this element. Quite likely the increased organic matter is increasing the availability of soil phosphorous enough that deficiencies are not yet a problem.

In corn fields, the velvet bean produces an average of about 6-7 pounds of above-ground organic matter (wet weight) per square meter (30 T/Ha), but has produced twice that. The effect on subsequent plantings is roughly equal per pound to that of cow manure or half that of chicken manure, although this varies from field to field. When incorporated into the soil, the velvet bean often approximately doubles subsequent corn yields and when used as a mulch increases yields by about 35%. Even dry bean yields following velvet beans have shown yield increases of over 100%.

[Ed: Even though leaving the residue as a mulch has many benefits (erosion control, weed control, moisture retention), the greater effect on corn yields after incorporation might lead you to incorporate residues rather than leave them as a mulch. All nutrients probably become available in one season when incorporated, whereas they are more slowly released when left as a mulch, accounting for the greater effect. However, almost surely some or much of the remaining nutrients will benefit the second and subsequent corn crops. Roland and I asked during a regenerative agriculture conference at Rodale International for a perspective on this question. The consensus was that over several years the total amount of nutrients available for plants is about the same whether residues are left as a mulch or incorporated. We would welcome your input on this question. I recommend a no-till approach except in famine situations where immediate yield is imperative.]

Farmers in areas with enough moisture for two crops of corn or sorghum started doing the following. The green manure (velvet bean or jack bean) is intercropped with the first grain crop. After harvesting the grain they cut the residue and green manure down, leaving this on the surface as a mulch. The second crop is planted 20 days later with a dibble stick right through holes cut in the mass of dead velvet bean. There is usually a net saving of labor because planting and cutting of the green manure requires less work than the two weeding operations that are thus saved with the second crop. This is the sort of technology one dreams of, but rarely finds: net savings of labor, zero cash cost, decreased risk (the mulch gives some protection from erosion and drought), increased productivity, increased soil fertility and increased protein intake for animals or people.

In Togo velvet bean grew well and was incorporated into the soil 5 months before planting corn. There was virtually no response to the green manure. Our hypothesis is that the green manure was burned or leeched out. We are now testing whether under such conditions a green mulch (jack bean for instance) throughout the dry season will be able to reduce surface temperatures sufficiently to maintain organic matter. We have serious doubts about the claims that organic matter in tropical soils are impossible to maintain.

Recently villager nutrition groups have discovered that by toasting the velvet bean somewhat less than they do to make coffee, they have been able to produce a really passable hot chocolate. By grinding the flour finely, they have even been able to use a recipe for soybean cake to make "velvet bean cake." [See the chapter on Human Health for information on using velvet bean as a food source.]

The Lablab bean (Dolichos lablab or Lablab purpureus) is a legume very similar in appearance to the velvet bean, but even faster growing where soils are fairly fertile. It has not been as valuable to us because of its need for somewhat more fertile soils and occasional insect problems, but may well be important to us later on when the other green manures have raised fertility sufficiently. The lablab bean is almost as drought-resistant as the jack bean, is very shade-tolerant, and is among the most palatable of legumes for animals (definitely preferred over velvet bean or jack bean). Lablab beans grow well from sea level up to about 1,500 meters. They require well-drained soils.

Lablab beans start flowering after 3 months and continue most of the first year, producing seed as well as remaining green. If soils are deep enough and other conditions permit, it will grow right through the dry season. I have seen plants that survived 3 years in droughty areas of the central plateau of Haiti. [Ed: In the sandy soils at ECHO lablab beans get nematodes so badly that it is difficult to keep them alive an entire year]. It nodulates profusely, producing mostly white nodules. Whereas the velvet bean growth is reduced if it has nothing to climb, plants in thick stands of lablab beans will begin to climb up each other. Another difference from the velvet or jack bean is that the lablab bean can be cut off nearly at ground level and will grow again, although with somewhat less vigor.

Lablab beans are traditionally planted toward the end of the agricultural cycle in some villages in Honduras to provide dry-season pasture for animals. It is also edible, and in some places, such as Haiti and West Africa, is widely appreciated as a regular food. Young pods or immature beans can be eaten green (beans taste similar to a sweet pea--a white-seeded variety is best for this). Dry lablab beans can be substituted for dry beans in most recipes. [Ed: Young pods of some varieties are quite tasty when cooked. Dr. Andrew Duncan recently told me that he saw a variety with an exceptionally wide pod growing on sides of village houses in Bangladesh.]

Where it grows well, the lablab bean has produced a phenomenal 11 kg per square meter (110 T/Ha) of above-ground organic matter (wet weight). Though we have had problems with insect attacks, its growth is so vigorous that it still usually grows as fast as the velvet bean. It grows so quickly that it should not be planted in corn until at least two months after corn is planted. Because animals prefer it to almost anything else, lablab beans cannot be grown where animals run free.

In pure stands, lablab beans should be planted about 10/sq m. We have not found a good system yet for planting in corn fields because of its rapid growth, but it should be possible with heavy pruning (which it withstands well). The lablab bean requires either a recently cultivated or a sandy soil.

Many other species and varieties may already be present in your area and better-suited than these species. Other possibilities for low elevations (0-1500m, warm) include: Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea; very drought-resistant but small-leaved, not covering the soil well, grows well at sea level), Canavalia gladiata (sword bean, like jack bean), various native Vignas, Crotalarias, Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea), Pueraria phaseoloides (tropical kudzu, different from the temperate weedy species) and many others. For intermediate elevations (1500-<3000 m): Phaseolus coccineus(scarlet runner bean, 'chinapopo'; reseeds naturally, does not need pruning; see the excellent CIDICCO full-color report on this species, 48 pp., US$8), Melilotus albus (sweet clover; may be difficult to eradicate), Lathyrus nigrivalvis (choreque; Guatemalan highland crop for the dry season, produces much biomass, but requires very fertile soil and a few years to produce well in new areas; needs cold but is not frost tolerant; grown on fertile land 1800-2100 m) non-leguminous Raphanus sativus (forage turnip; very fast production of much biomass) and Avena spp. (oats), Pisum sativum (peas) and Vicia spp. For high elevations (>3000 m), options are much more limited: Lupinus mutabilis> (tarwi; excellent fixer of nitrogen) and Vicia faba (fava bean, broadbean). There is much room and need for experimentation and developments on the scientific and community levels with additional species.

Continuing research needs. If you have been experimenting with green manures, CIDICCO, Roland Bunch, and ECHO would like to see whatever information you have put together. Among the most important subjects we need to learn more about are: (1) What legumes will work above 1,800 meters? (2) What additional plants will work at any elevation? (3) What GMs will work best under wet tropical conditions? (4) In what ways must these recommendations be modified for areas outside of the Caribbean basin area from which they have come?

We still need tremendous amounts of information on GM systems. We need to learn about additional species for intercropping with major crops, for rotation with other GMs, and species suitable for various niches. Much more data is needed on how to manage these GMs in different soil and climatic conditions and the best techniques for management of the system. Attention to how various species can be grown together is also needed.

[Ed: ECHO has small packets of seed of many (but not all) of these species available for trial. We usually have: velvet bean, jack and sword beans, lablabs, pigeon pea, butterfly pea, tropical kudzu, and fava beans. (If you have seed of other species available you can share, let us know and we will send you our plant import permit.) Please note that our packets are for small trial plots; we do not have large quantities. If you want to buy larger quantities we will try to send you a source. We also have the "90-day" velvet bean that was grown in the south-eastern part of the USA 50 years ago. At the time of the last corn cultivation farmers would plant this velvet bean. Both corn and beans were left in the field. Cattle were allowed to feed in the fields a couple of hours each day in the fall and winter, reportedly getting very fat. This variety is not sensitive to day length so produces 3 months after planting. The tropical kind only produces when days are short (flowering starts in November at ECHO). The 90-day kind has some of the itch-producing hairs Roland refers to, but not nearly as many as I have seen on the wild "pica-pica" in Honduras.] 

INNOVATIONS IN GREEN MANURES (1995). Roland Bunch sent an intriguing report on his visit to the state of Santa Catarina in Brazil to see the work of EPAGRI. "It was, technologically speaking, the most impressive piece of work with small farmers that I have ever witnessed: highly innovative, aimed at a crying need throughout the third world, very popular with the farmers, widely disseminated, and with results in better economic standards among the farmers."

"Probably the most important issue of all is that we must get away from the escalating dependency on velvet bean (at least in Central America)." The following is abstracted from Roland's report.

The project has been continuing for 13 years, on both flat coastal areas and mountains. The technologies include contour grass barriers and orienting crop rows on the contour, but by far the most popular aspect of their work is green manures/cover crops (GMCCs). These plants are used to fertilize and condition the soil, usually left on the soil surface rather than buried. They are valued both as green mulches while growing and dead mulches after being cut. The vast majority of farmers use a traditional animal-drawn tool called a "rolo-faca" (knife roller?) which knocks over and cuts up the GMCC. Then with other animal-drawn instruments, they clear a narrow furrow from the mulch and plant their next crop. The resulting mulch both reduces or simplifies weeding and noticeably increases soil fertility. The majority of farmers who have used any of these systems for more than 5-6 years are no longer plowing, evolving from a minimum-tillage system to a no-till system. Seeds of the succeeding crop are merely hand-drilled into the soil. Some farmers' animal-drawn plows are rusting in abandonment.

The project works intensively with some 60 species of GMCC and have seen widespread adoption of about 25. We very much need to continue finding new species and varieties of GMCCs. Also, if we are to avoid having more and more insect and disease problems with GMCCs, we must practice rotation with them just as we rotate major crops. Furthermore, we must avoid becoming dependent on one or two species, lest we fall into the trap that Leucaena-based programs did in Southeast Asia when psyllid insects defoliated thousands of hectares of the world's most successful alley cropping. More specifically, for those many programs totally dependent on the velvet bean as a green manure crop, it should be noted that in southeastern Paraguay, a fungus has wiped out two of the four varieties of velvet bean that were previously used in the area.

Maintaining soil cover is much more important in preventing erosion than terraces or soil conservation barriers, live or dead. Roland says, "This is the first program I have seen which took this fact to heart, and was able to convince the farmers of its value through their own observation and experience. Thus, one more nail has been pounded into the coffin of our old bag of tricks, which featured contour ditches, grass or tree barriers, and contour rock walls. We are not ready to abandon these practices entirely, but certainly we are in the middle of a process of re-examination which will probably result in a major de-emphasis in our use of at least rock walls and contour ditches."

"The overall quantity of biomass is more important, relative to amount of nitrogen fixed, than we had previously assumed." For example, both oats and turnips are widely used as GMCCs. This makes sense if covering the soil and achieving a no-till system are as important to the farmer as are supplying nutrients to the soil.

The possibilities of GMCCs to fit into a wider and wider number of cropping systems was confirmed. Farmers were using GMCCs in cropping systems based on corn, onions, cassava, and fruit trees. Also Roland was shown photographs of GMCCs associated with wheat, grapes, tomatoes, soybeans, and sorghum. There is a tremendous need for farmer experimentation to discover new species and ways to adapt to differing agricultural systems. No agronomist-staffed research stations will ever be able to investigate and refine all the possibilities.

Probably the single most important result of the Brazilian work is that by eliminating the need for most of the weeding and all of the plowing, the small farmer is at much less of a competitive disadvantage with the large, mechanized farmer. Small farmers, especially on hillsides, were never able to carry out the really heavy and expensive labors of plowing and weeding as cheaply as could the mechanized farmer. The answer lies not in the mechanization of these jobs, but in their elimination.

Roland cites a study by Flores and Estrada which compared no-till velvet bean-based system with a neighboring mechanized modern system in Honduras. The velvet bean system was less productive, but the costs per ton of corn produced were 30% less. 

JACK BEAN REPORT from Don Mansfield in Mali: "I planted jack beans (Canavalia ensiformis) in terrible soil (red clay with very little top soil). They were planted September 26 and are growing like mad, yet we have had no rain since October 9. I planted them as a ground cover for land just cleared and a green manure. We have been staking the ox there. He eats the grass and does not touch the jack beans. I am really surprised and pleased at how well they are doing. I had the seed and figured I had nothing to lose by planting them." 

AN OBSCURE USE FOR JACK BEANS (for your interest only). Terry Waller sent us an article in the San Angelo Standard Times about a Texas couple that grows 5 acres of jack beans every year. A chemical company in Oklahoma, "Organon Teknica Corp., uses them to make the chemical that filters blood in a dialysis machine. They say jack beans are the only way they can make it." 

COMMERCIAL LABLAB BEAN VARIETIES. Lablab beans (Dolichos lablab) are one of the "big three" green manure crops that our readers have been requesting since Roland Bunch's articles in EDN. Because so many of you are now growing lablab beans, we thought you might like to compare their growth to two top commercial varieties in Australia. We purchased varieties 'Rongai' and 'Highworth' from Sauers seed company (P.O. Box 117, Rockhampton 4700, Queensland, AUSTRALIA; fax 61-79-22-2219).

The catalog describes the two. 'Rongai' was derived from the original introduction of lablab from Kenya in 1952. It was released in 1962. It has white flowers and brown seeds. 'Highworth' came from southern India. It was selected from a large range of lines for its early flowering, high seed yield and satisfactory dry matter production. Both varieties have similar vegetative growth, but Highworth flowers are purple and the black seeds are slightly smaller. Flowering begins 3-4 weeks earlier than Rongai in northern Queensland and up to 6 weeks earlier in Central Queensland. Pod maturity of Highworth is more uniform and because the pods are borne well above the foliage, seed harvesting is simplified and seed yields are higher. 

SUNN HEMP AS GREEN MANURE. Fr. Gerold Rupper reports that sunn hemp is receiving widespread acceptance as a versatile green manure in East Africa. His sunn hemp seed bank distributed 150 tons of seed last year. He sent information about his work with sunn hemp in Tanzania, as well as seed of the species he grows, Crotalaria ochroleuca.

Though sunn hemp has a totally different growth habit than the green manures we have featured in the past, it has many of the same uses. It is a vigorous upright legume growing 2 meters tall. (The velvet bean, jack bean and lablab bean are all vines.) Among other things, they use it to improve the soil, kill weeds, feed livestock, and control erosion.

It is especially suited for fruit groves because, unlike vining ground covers, continual vigilance to keep it from covering the trees is not necessary. They are using it with banana, plantain, citrus, and coconut. It can be cut at any time and left in the field as mulch. If it is cut one foot (30 cm) from the ground it will grow a second time. He stresses that not less than 10 kilo of seed per acre must be planted.

Fr. Rupper wrote, "In Hanendi, sunn hemp was planted in an orchard affected badly by insects. When it had grown a bit, the insects left the trees and started to live on the sunn hemp. When the sunn hemp was cut for mulching, the insects returned to the orange trees." "Just this week we were informed that insects which attacked the freshly planted maize moved to inter-cropped sunn hemp, ate the roots and are perishing."

Crotalaria is known to contain toxins, but this variety is free of toxin (except perhaps the seed) and is fed to livestock. It is cut about 3 months after planting. It is best cut in the morning, but keeps until evening. Later in the season cattle can be allowed to graze in the sunn hemp field, but they must not be allowed to spend more than about one hour in the area. [He does not say why.] Later he wrote us that "this year our farmer stopped cutting sunn hemp, instead allowing his 120-cow herd to feed freely in fields after first spending an hour in a grass field. The cows even ate dry stems." Fr. Rupper also says that the seeds should not be stored in a closed room where people are working.

The seeds are used to keep weevils from stored rice and maize. Sunn hemp seeds are spread over the ground and bags put on top of the seeds. This procedure is continued, layering sunn hemp seed and bags of stored grain. After about 9 months, the process must be repeated. As with velvet bean, farmers are especially appreciative of its usefulness in controlling weeds and improving the texture of the soil. He tells farmers, "If you have no chemical fertilizer when the season starts, plant sunn hemp between your food crops. If fertilizer arrives you may still be able to use it. If not, use sunn hemp and you will at least get a modest crop." Other uses are applying the dry stems and any husks to trees or gardens as mulch, or as bedding for livestock.

The seeds, about the size of millet, are mixed with two parts of coarse sand and broadcast by hand. They do not need to be covered, although it might be well to draw a branch across the newly planted field. They sprout after a few days and develop a strong root. Growth is rather slow until they reach about one foot, then they quickly grow to 2 meters or more. It is fairly drought resistant, recovering well when rains return. Plants bear seed after 3-4 months and die after 6 months. However, if they are cut back to about one foot (30 cm) above the ground, they again develop new leaves.

If planted densely in a well-prepared field, no further work is needed (except to keep out animals). Sometimes it is interplanted with maize. Some species of Crotalaria are useful in suppressing nematodes, but we do not know if this is one of them.

Another species of crotalaria, Crotalaria juncea, was released by the University of Hawaii (but no longer distributed by them; now available from Hikiola Coop, P.O. Box 231, Hoolehua, HI 96729, USA; phone 808/567-6774). 'Tropic Sun' is included in rotation with vegetables, ornamentals and others to add nitrogen, organic matter, suppress weeds, control erosion and reduce root-knot nematodes. In 60 days it can produce 145 pounds of nitrogen and 3 tons of dry matter per acre. Seed should be broadcast at the rate of 40-60 pounds per acre and covered 1/2 inch deep. High populations make the stems more succulent and hence better for incorporation into the soil. If allowed to grow too tall, stems become fibrous and difficult to deal with. Seeds can be inoculated with cowpea inoculant to maximize nitrogen fixation [presumably not needed where cowpeas are commonly grown]. It also lacks the poisonous alkaloids that make some Crotalaria species poisonous to livestock.

ECHO has trial-size packets of both species. For larger quantities of C. ochroleuca write to Fr. Rupper; St. Benedict's Abbey; P. O. Peramiho, TANZANIA, East Africa. (Seed is $7 per kilogram including postage and he always offers phytosanitary certificates.) 

TROPICAL KUDZU USED AS GREEN MANURE IN ZAIRE. Pete Ekstrand just visited us and had this account from the Paul Carlson Medical Program in Zaire. They have found that Pueraria phaseoloides (tropical kudzu or puero) grows vigorously and can even smother the vigorous native imperata grass if the grass is manually bent over. (This is not the same kudzu, P. lobata, that took over so much land in Alabama and elsewhere.) They then cut circles perhaps 2 meters wide and plant fruit trees, coffee etc. in the middle. It had not rained for 60 days when he visited and the ground in the circles was hard and dry. But one arm length under the ground cover the soil was moist and could be molded with the hand! 

VELVET BEAN SUCCESS IN THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN. Velvet bean, Mucuna spp., has probably had more impact on farmers lives than any plant distributed from our seedbank. For review: velvet bean is an extremely vigorous vine that grows well in moderately poor soil, is drought resistant, and fixes a lot of nitrogen on its roots. It is interplanted with corn as a green manure. Soon after the corn matures, it covers the entire field, killing weeds. It can even kill vigorous grasses like imperata grass. It is cut back and left in place just before corn planting time. This kills the vine, which now protects the soil from erosion, retains moisture, and eventually turns into compost.

How effective can it be? Tom Post reported that in Belize it had doubled and, in some cases even tripled, corn yields. A Project Global Village publication in Honduras reported up to 4-fold increases in corn yields. The amount by which velvet bean can increase yields clearly varies greatly from place to place. If the soil is sufficiently depleted, it has the potential to make an enormous difference.

The latest annual research from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Nigeria reports on their experience in Benin. Demonstration plots of different kinds were established in farmers' fields. Groups of farmers met periodically to observe the results and to discuss what experiments they would want to do on their own fields. They were especially impressed that velvet beans could smother young shoots of the vigorous weed "spear grass" (Imperata cylindrica). Farmers harvested 80% more corn with velvet bean than on continuously cropped land. Farmers that chose an alternative experiment (pigeon pea) had only a very modest improvement.

Next farmers with "completely depleted fields" were given two optional experiments: plant acacia trees for a multi-year fallow or velvet bean. Many planted velvet bean one month after sowing corn, during the first rainy season, then let it grow into a dense cover during the second rainy season. The results were dramatic. They recorded, on average, a 10-fold increase in corn yield (from 200 to 2,000 kg per hectare). National extension authorities are now applying this technology in all zones where soils are depleted and imperata is a problem.

The article ascribes the success of the effort to several factors. Farmers were not just involved in the experiments but also in choosing which experiments to do. A range of options were presented. Farmers had a chance to see demonstration plots showing the effects of technologies before they made a selection. They were not simply told about hypothetical benefits and asked to make a selection. Finally, the effect of velvet beans on corn yield plus the bonus of imperata control had a decisive impact. 

LEGUME COVER CROPS IN ORCHARDS OR PLANTATIONS. This is the theme of "Cover Crop News" #7. A brief summary of the insightful six-page report follows. For a copy or to receive this bulletin (US$1.50/issue, published twice a year), write CIDICCO, Apdo. Postal 4443, Tegucigalpa MDC, HONDURAS, Central America; phone 504/32-7471 or 39-9870; fax 504/39-9896; e-mail cidicco@nicarao.apc.org.

Since the early 1900s legumes have been used as cover crops in oil palm plantations in Asia. More recently it is being evaluated for other trees: soursop (Annona muricata) in Costa Rica, citrus in Honduras and Surinam, bananas in Panama, etc. Primary benefits are controlling weeds, reducing production costs and use of chemicals, and increasing yields.

The largest oil palm plantation in Honduras has had an aggressive program of intercropping legumes for 15 years (at least 1,000 hectares). Weeding is one of the greatest expenses in the early years of establishing oil palms. They begin producing after three years, but it is six years before the canopy is dense enough to restrict weed growth. Many fruit trees never provide enough shade to substantially restrict weed growth.

Tropical kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides) is the most commonly used legume. Seeds are small and slow to emerge, so one must start with a weed-free field, planting 5-8 kg of seed/ha. Full soil coverage occurs in about 10 months, so some weeding is required. Once established, the vine tends to climb trees. Cutting circles around the trees is the main labor in established fields.

There is so much shade in an established oil palm plantation that kudzu growth is reduced. At that time a more shade-tolerant legume, Desmodium ovalifolium, is planted at this particular plantation. A further benefit is that it does not climb trees. In Belize, "A privately owned farm called Parrot Hill operates several hundred hectares of citrus plantations covered with Desmodium."

Often farmers grow corn between rows in a new plantation. In this case, the legume of choice is velvet bean because it is much faster to establish. The drawback to velvet bean is that its vigorous growth requires much more frequent pruning around trees. [At ECHO velvet beans easily reach the tops of pine trees, though they have never hurt the trees.] CIDICCO is a networking organization. If you have had experience in this area, they (and ECHO) would like to learn details from you, especially from readers in Asia.