Abstract
Core Ideas Cereal‐legume binary mixtures increased forage productivity per unit area compared to cereal‐cereal and legume‐legume binary mixtures. In binary mixtures, pearl millet was marginally more resistant to yield reduction in comparison to sorghum. Soybean suffered the highest yield losses in binary mixtures compared to cowpea and cluster bean. The assessment of competitive performance of mixture components is important for maximizing benefits of intercropping systems. This field study tested binary mixtures of two cereals {sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and pearl millet [ Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone]} and three forage legumes {cowpea [ Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], cluster bean [ Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.], and soybean[ Glycine max (L.) Merr.]}, along with their sole crops on competitive indices. Sorghum–cowpea binary mixture resulted in a lower green forage yield of sorghum and cowpea by 9 and 36%, respectively, but overall biomass production was increased by 30 and 117% compared to their sole crop equivalents. Partial land equivalent ratios (LER) of all component crops were higher than 0.50, indicating better land use efficiency, except of soybean in binary mixtures with cowpea and cluster bean. However, the highest LER was of sorghum–cowpea (1.55), followed by sorghum–soybean (1.48) and pearl millet–soybean (1.48) binary mixtures. Pearl millet dominated sorghum and all legumes, while cowpea remained a superior competitor among legumes as per aggressivity value (AV) index. The highest crowding ratio (CR) was exhibited by pearl millet in binary mixture with cluster bean indicating its higher competitive ability in comparison to other mixture components. Observed yield loss data indicated that pearl millet was the most resistant crop to yield loss in all binary mixtures, while soybean had the highest yield reduction. In a short term, the highest area time equivalent ratio (ATER) for sorghum–cowpea binary mixture indicated the maximum advantage for this binary mixture compared to other binary mixtures.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Sorghum–cowpea reduced sorghum green forage yield by 9%.
- Treatment
- Sorghum–cowpea binary mixturee0
- Outcome
- green forage yielde0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Value
- 9e0
- Comparator
- cowpeae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Sorghum–cowpea binary mixture resulted in a lower green forage yield of sorghum and cowpea by 9 and 36%, respectively”
Claim · model-written summary
Sorghum–cowpea reduced cowpea green forage yield by 36%.
- Taxon
- cowpea
Vigna unguiculatae0 - Treatment
- Sorghum–cowpea binary mixturee0
- Outcome
- green forage yielde0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Value
- 36%e0
- Comparator
- sorghume0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Sorghum–cowpea binary mixture resulted in a lower green forage yield of sorghum and cowpea by 9 and 36%, respectively”
Claim · model-written summary
Cereal-legume mixtures increased forage productivity over cereal-cereal and legume-legume mixtures.
- Treatment
- Cereal‐legume binary mixturese0
- Outcome
- forage productivity per unit areae0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- cereal‐cereal and legume‐legume binary mixturese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Cereal‐legume binary mixtures increased forage productivity per unit area compared to cereal‐cereal and legume‐legume binary mixtures”
e1“sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and pearl millet [ Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone]”
Claim · model-written summary
Sorghum–cowpea had the highest LER at 1.55.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“highest LER was of sorghum–cowpea (1.55)”
Claim · model-written summary
Sorghum–soybean LER was 1.48.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“sorghum–soybean (1.48)”
Claim · model-written summary
Pearl millet–soybean LER was 1.48.
- Taxon
- pearl millet
Cenchrus americanuse0 - Outcome
- pearl millet–soybeane0
- Value
- 1.48e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“pearl millet–soybean (1.48)”
Claim · model-written summary
Pearl millet dominated sorghum and all legumes.
- Taxon
- Pearl millet
Cenchrus americanuse0 - Outcome
- dominated sorghum and all legumese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“Pearl millet dominated sorghum and all legumes”
Claim · model-written summary
Cowpea was the superior competitor among legumes.
- Taxon
- cowpea
Vigna unguiculatae0 - Outcome
- superior competitor among legumese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“cowpea remained a superior competitor among legumes as per aggressivity value (AV) index”
Claim · model-written summary
Pearl millet resisted yield loss most in mixtures.
- Taxon
- pearl millet
Cenchrus americanuse0 - Outcome
- most resistant crop to yield losse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“pearl millet was the most resistant crop to yield loss in all binary mixtures”
Claim · model-written summary
Soybean had the highest yield reduction.
- Taxon
- soybean
Glycine maxe0 - Outcome
- yield reductione0
- Direction
- higheste0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“soybean had the highest yield reduction”