Burkina Faso livestock feeding is characterized by a hot dry season fodder deficit,
which affects animal performance and causes economic losses. To overcome this
challenge, improving quality fodder production through the use of dual-purpose
crops is a potential alternative. Hence, this study aimed at testing dual-purpose
cultivars of sorghum and cowpea under monoculture and intercropping in the North
Sudan zone in Burkina Faso. To do this, a “Mother and Baby trials” approach was
adopted. The mother trial was designed as a randomized complete block with eight
treatments (combinations of monoculture and intercropping systems for two
cowpeas and two sorghum cultivars) and four replications during two cropping
seasons (2019 and 2020) at the INERA research station in Saria. The on-farm “baby”
trials involved 30 farmers during two cropping seasons (2019 and 2020) in four
communes: Koudougou, Poa, Nandiala, and Kokologo. Data were collected on
weed biomass and density, fodder biomass and grain yield, intercropping efficiency,
and fodder nutritive value. The results of the mother trial showed that intercropping
significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced weed density and weed biomass. Sorghum cultivar
Ponta Negra had the highest fodder biomass yield (10.05 kg DM/ha) while sorghum
Sariaso16 had the highest grain yield (4.42 kg/ha). Cowpea cultivar KVx745-11P had
greater fodder biomass (4.72 kg DM/ha) than Tiligré (3.28 kg DM/ha) with similar
grain yield (2.17 and 2.17 kg/ha). Intercropping was the most efficient land-use
cropping system for fodder biomass and grain yield improvement both in mother
and baby trials. For fodder nutritive value, cultivars Sariaso16 and Ponta Negra had
similar crude protein concentrations (ranging from 4.1 to 5.4%), and cowpea cultivar
KVx745-11P haulms had greater crude protein (ranging from 16.9 to 20.3%). The use
of Ponta Negra and KVx745-11P and Sariaso16 and KVx745-11P under intercropping
is likely to optimize grain and quality fodder production for crop-livestock farmers in
the North Sudan zone