Soil improver and cover crop
The Caribbean stylo is a freely nodulating N-fixing legume. It provides N to the soil, available to both associated and subsequent crops/grasses. Stylosanthes hamata is considered a good green manure or ley legume. In the uplands of Thailand, it has been intercropped with cassava to preserve the top-soil and improve fertility (Gibson, 1987). It has been used as mulch after herbicide treatment in order to decrease soil temperature in infertile, hot and dry soils (McCown, 1987). In India, it has been recommended to improve range and degraded lands and is used as a component in watershed and soil conservation programs (Nagaich et al., 2009; Cook et al., 2005).