The objective of the present study was to evaluate drymass performance, nitrogen (N) accumulation, and C/N ratio of pigeon pea, sorghum, and millet grown as mono- or multiple cropping. Dry mass sampling was undertaken at three different seasons. The experiment was set up in fatorial randomised plot design in Presidente Prudente, State of Sao Paulo between March and July 2006. Treatments were as follows: monocropping of sorghum, pigeon pea, and millet; multiple cropping of sorghum + pigeon pea, millet + pigeon pea, and millet + sorghum. The three cutting seasons for plant top dry mass measurements were: 30, 60, and 90 days after sowing time. In the first 60 days after sowing time, millet showed higher growth than pigeon pea and sorghum thus resulting in higher dry mass yield in the multiple cropping than alone. The cutting of the tops of millet + pigeon pea and sorghum + pigeon pea at the end of the summer rainy season ('safrinha') shall be conducted 60 and 90 days after sowing time, respectively. Multiple cropping of sorghum + pigeon pea show higher growth synchronicity of the two crops favouring balanced dry mass composition of the cover crops. Multiple croppings of pigeon pea with grass plants showed higher N accumulation in the plant residues than pigeon pea monocropping. However, multiple croppings of pigeon pea with grass plants showed lower C/N ratio than monocropping of millet or sorghum.
cover crop; green manure; no-tillage
