[01] Shingiro Christian, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, College of Agriculture Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda, Musanze, Rwanda. [02] Mparara Kasanziki Charles, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. [03] Nyiraneza Claudine, Department of crop Intensification, Rwanda Agriculture Board, Huye, Rwanda.

Successful integration of useful trees and perennials into food crop production system is a key to developing sustainable agriculture in the tropics region. Alley cropping or inter-planting multipurpose tree legumes with annual food crops provides an ecologically sound basis for new farming system development. In this respect, nine indigenous multipurpose tree species; Croton megalocarpus, Pterygota mildbraedii, Podocarpus latifolius, Markhamia platycalyx, Polyscias fulva, Erythrina abyssinica, Ficus thonningii, Maesopsis eminii, Syzygium parvifolium were evaluated for their performance on crop yield, notably Maize planted in alley cropping system at Ruhashya sector, Huye district. These trees were planted in a randomized complete block design system with three replications. In the middle season these trees were pruned and thinned to assess their biomass nutritional concentrations. Maize was planted together with tree species in an alley cropping system. Data collected from the experiment included tree diameters at breast height (cm), total height of trees (m), nutritional concentrations of tree leaf biomass, number of leaves, leaves diameter, maize height, leaves diameter, total maize biomass and dry grain weight. It was found with the result that Sygygium parvifolium had the highest number of leaves (12.29) and highest leaves diameter (8.66cm) approximately two times more than Maesopsis eminii which had the lowest number of leaves (8.35) and lowest leaves diameter (4.50cm). The highest maize biomass and grain yield was found for Ptergotha mildbraedi (6.56 ton ha^-1 and 2.89 ton ha^-1 respectively) approximately 3 times and 4 times more than Maesopsis eminii which had the lowest maize biomass and grain yield. We concluded that to increase the crop production Ptergotha mildbraedi would be the best choice for intercropping. However, the choice should depend on the need of the farmers, for example if the purpose is to produce timber Maesopsis eminii and Croton megalocarps could be the best choice.

Indigenous Multipurpose Trees, Biomass, Maize

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