TITLE:
Selected Mung Bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) Genotypes’ Agronomic Performance in Sole and Intercropping Systems in Ghana’s Sudan Ecology
AUTHORS:
Aziiba Emmanuel Asibi, Richard Dormatey, Peter Quandahor, Issah Sugri, Julius Yirzagla, Francis Kusi, Agbesi Kwadzo Keteku, Patrick Attamah, Ramson Adombilla, Lamini Salim, Peter Anabire Asungre, Muktharu Zakaria
KEYWORDS:
Pulses, Crop Intensification, Sustainable Cropping, Small Scale Farmers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
30,
2025
ABSTRACT: Ghanaians place a high value on agriculture, but crop cultivation is threatened by increase in extreme weather events. Diversified and intensive cropping system, such as intercropping major cereals with orphan or neglected legumes can increase total productivity. To determine which mung bean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) genotype is promising for maize-mung bean intercropping, a two-year experiment was carried out at Manga (11˚01N, 0˚16W). The findings indicated that every genotype examined (IC-39368, IC-39288, IC-39399, MUM-2, GOGG-912, IC-39427, RMG-492, IC-39375, IC-39298, and IC-39333) confirmed suitable for intercropping with maize without any damaging effect. Although the intercropping decreased the number of grain per pod, plant height, pod length, one thousand grain weight, pod load, grain, and biomass yields of mung bean genotypes, it had no detrimental effect on the agronomic parameters of maize. On the contrary, it boosted total productivity per intercropped unit area. The land equivalent ratios of 1.00 to 1.90 confirmed that intercropping maize and mung beans have high agronomic benefits. Thus, for small-scale farmers in Ghana’s Sudan and Guinea savannah ecologies, mung bean intercropping provides a climate-smart approach to increase their resilience to climate change and household food insecurity.