Thanks to its leaf and flowering pattern, Faidherbia albida is an ideal agroforestry species: it can grow among field crops without shading them during the wet season and provides shade during drought periods (Orwa et al., 2009). Shedding leaves at the beginning of the wet season quickly provides nutrients to the soil (N, P, Ca). The leaves mixed with the dung and urine of cattle that seek the shade of trees in hot weather and the ability of the tree to fix nitrogen make it a valuable asset in maintaining soil fertility (Ecoport, 2009). It has been recommended to intercrop apple-ring trees with maize rather than Leucaena leucocephala (Orwa et al., 2009), or to intercrop them with sorghum (Gutteridge et al., 1994), or pearl millet and groundnut (Bernard, 2002).
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