Abstract
A two years study pertaining to raising mixed forage of maize + legume was conducted at agronomic research area of the department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during 2003 and 2004. A promising forage maize variety "Afgoi" was grown in association with various forage legumes namely clusterbean, ricebean and cowpea in different sowing techniques viz. broadcast with blended seed of the component crop species, line sowing with this blended seed by a drill or sowing the component crops in alternate 1:1 row. Maximum mixed forage yield 55.75 and 65.10 t ha' during the first and second year of experimentation was obtained from maize +cowpea association when cowpea was intercropped in alternate lines with maize. Cowpea appeared to be more compatible with forage maize as it yielded significantly higher than clusterbean and ricebean, irrespective to sowing technique. The results further revealed that sowing of maize and intercrop legume in alternate row facilitated better circulation of air and light penetration, providing conducive conditions for crop growth and development than broadcasting or line sowing with blended seed. Key words: Maize fodder, legume, mixed cropping and sowing techniques4
