Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2014; 3(2): 133-141 Published online April 30, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/aff) doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.23 Influence of small cereal intercropping and additive series of seed proportion on the yield and yield component of lupine (Lupinus Spp.) in north western Ethiopia Yayeh Bitew Agronomist, Adet Agricultural Research Centre, Institute of Amhara Agricultural Research, Bahir Dare, Ethiopia Email address: yayehbitew@gmail.com To cite this article: Yayeh Bitew. Influence of Small Cereal Intercropping and Additive Series of Seed Proportion on the Yield and Yield Component of Lupine (Lupinus Spp.) in North Western Ethiopia. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Vol. 3, No. 2, 2014, pp. 133-141. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.23 Abstract: Small cereals as a main crop and lupine as a minor crop are food crops often traditionally grown in association in North Western Ethiopia. The experiment was conducted on intercropping of lupine (Lupinus albus L.) with wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgar) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in 2009 at Adet Agricultural research station. The treatments were sole wheat at a seed rate of 175 kg/ ha, sole barley at a seed rate of 125 kg/ ha, sole finger millet at a seed rate of 30 kg/ ha, sole lupine at a seed rate of 90 kg/ ha, and an additive series of 25, 50 and 75 % of the sole lupine seed rate combined with the full cereal seed rate to determine the effect of small cereal intercropping in additive series on the yield and yield component of lupine. The experimental design was a completely randomized block with nine intercropping and four sole cropping systems in three replications. Lupine was planted in rows after establishment of main crops. SAS software’s were used to compute the analysis of variance. Maximum lupine seed proportion was superior to the lowest when intercropped with wheat and finger millet. The lowest population density resulted in reduced agronomic attributes of lupine. Intercropping higher proportion of lupine with wheat and finger millet did help much in increasing grain yield and biomass yield of lupine without affecting cereal crop yield. However, nearly complete dominance of barley over lupine at all seeding ratios leads to absolute reduction in grain yield. The lupine-finger millet mixture at the 50:100 and 75:100 seeding ratio and lupine-wheat mixture at the 75:100 seeding ratio had a higher yield advantage of intercropping for exploiting the resources of the environment compared with the other intercropping systems. Keywords: Intercropping, Wheat, Barely, Finger Millet, Lupine, Seeding Ratio 1. Introduction Intercropping is the cropping system involving the growing of two or more crops in the same piece of land at the same time or relayed which could compute for growth resources for certain growth period. It provides valuable ecosystem services such as improved pest control (Mitchell et al., 2002), increased resource use efficiency (Hauggaard-Nielsen et al., 2001) in crop livestock mixed farming system. However, in many parts of Ethiopia, farmers traditionally harvest mainly once in a year on sole crop basis even in high rain fall areas. Moreover, in the past much research efforts have been directed towards improving technology for sole cropping. Such traditional farming did not insure the production of adequate food for a family (Nigusie, 1994). Different crops are grown traditionally in mixtures by small farmers to satisfy dietary needs, spread the period of peak demand for labor and minimize the risk associated with climate conditions (Tilahun eta al, 2012). Intercropping cereal with a legume, however, is relatively the most common in most parts of the country. Indeed, the traditional objective has been to produce a full yield of cereal (as much as with a sole crop) while the associated legume yield is considered as additional yield (Tilahun eta al, 2012) Lupine (Lupinus Spp.) is one of the major highland food legumes grown in Ethiopia. It is traditionally gown as intercrop with cereals and oil crops by low input farmers and is restricted to low-income classes, to times of drought (Jansen, 2006). Finger millet, wheat, and barley are the third, fourth and fifth stable cereal crops grown in west Gojam, respectively (CSA, 2007). Farmers grow it as traditional undefined additive system of intercropping in which lupine