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 practi sed in the first year of establishment. However, because circle weeding sub stantially increased basal diameter and branching when compared to no weedi ng, in situations with labour constraints, it can be used to lessen the del eterious effects of weeds.