Performance of Indigenous Species as Hedgerows: An Evaluation

The study was conducted in search for indigenous species that can be used as hedgerow for alley cropping in upland farms. Indigenous species were screened using basic criteria and the best five species were evaluated in an experiment laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design for their performances in terms of survival, herbage production, controlling soil loss, and enhancing soil fertility. Survival of cuttings showed significant differences between the species evaluated. Cuttings of Tithonia diversifolia survived best at 95.25 % followed by Baccaurea philippinensis and Grewia sp. at 70.64 % and 68.88 %, respectively. Tithonia hedgerow also produced the highest herbage at 232.9 kg followed by Baccaurea and Grewia species at 99.4 and 93.6 kg, respectively. Depth of soil losses was significantly lower under Tithonia (0.278 cm) followed by Baccaurea and Grewia species at 0.408 and 0.428 cm, respectively. Results further showed that after two years of continued application of hedgerow trimmings as fertilizer, there was significant improvement on Nitrogen, Organic matter, and Phosphorous contents of top soil but no significant improvement was found for Potassium and soil pH levels. Tithonia, Baccaurea and Grewia species exhibited high potential for hedgerows in that order. The actual impact of these species on crop yield needs however to be evaluated.