Uncovering the Potential of a Multi-Purpose Legume, Lablab Purpureus (L.) Sweet.

Due to global climate change there is a need for resilient crops that are able to withstand drought periods and unreliable rainfall patterns that are becoming more common throughout Africa. Increasing soil degradation in these same areas also requires growing crops that will improve soil fertility to restore marginal agricultural lands.

Lablab (Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet) is a traditional legume crop in Africa that has the potential to address these needs. It is primarily grown in Africa for food and fodder, but is under utilized by smallholder farmers. To better understand the potential of this multi-purpose legume, more information is needed on the performance of this crop across genotypes and environments.

We are conducting multi-year field trials of 30 lablab cultivars across different sites in northern Tanzania to better understand the potential of lablab. We will present results from the first two years of field trials at two of the sites. Results will focus on the variation between a subset of 15 cultivars, both sole cropped and intercropped with maize, in shoot biomass, N₂-fixation, grain yield, root dry matter, and nodulation. These differences will be used to identify lablab cultivars with high production potential measured both by yield and contributions to soil fertility across varying climate conditions.