Early growth of pigeonpea under open-pit planting and restricted weeding in semiarid Zimbabwe

Simple and efficient tree-establishment methods are a key to the success of agroforestry technologies under limited-resource conditions. An experiment was conducted to test the effect of open pit planting and reduced weeding on soil moisture content and growth of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.). The results indicated that open-pit planting might reduce early growth of the plant. Clean weeding gave the most rapid growth and should be practised in the first year of establishment. However, because circle weeding substantially increased basal diameter and branching when compared to no weeding, in situations with labour constraints, it can be used to lessen the deleterious effects of weeds. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.