Parkia biglobosa and Vitellaria paradoxa are known to improve soil fertility and redistribute water under their crowns in parkland systems. A field experiment was conducted to separate above and belowground interactions between these species and associated Sorghum bicolor using root trenching and crown pruning during three cropping seasons. Trenching increased soil water availability because Sorghum plants displayed higher leaf water potential (-0.73 plusmn; 0.11 MPa) in the trenched plots than control plots (-1.32 plusmn; 0.14 MPa). There were no significant differences in grain (315 plusmn; 80 kg ha-1 versus 217 plusmn; 48 kg ha-1) and straw biomass (1639 plusmn; 295 kg ha-1 versus 1307 plusmn; 278 kg ha-1) yields between trenched and control plots. Crown pruning increased sorghum grain yield in the trenched plots in 2008 and 2009 under P. biglobosa while the …