在象牙海岸沿海地区,大部分椰园属于砂土,一般不种植豆科覆盖植物。事实上,种植者或听任天然萌生植物滋长,或种植粮食作物一、二年,然后让土壤裸露。相反的,法国油料油脂研究所的布韦港(Port-Bouet)试验站却推荐用一种十分适应砂土的豆科植物—蝴蝶豆(Centrosema pubes-cens)覆盖土壤以防止禾本科莠草侵占。然而,覆盖植物有时会与椰树竞争水分。过去对椰园的这个水分竞争问题很少研究,因此我们曾试图确定栽培措施对土壤水分 In the Ivory Coast, most of the coconuts are sandy soils that are not normally planted with legumes. In fact, growers or natural grafts can grow, or grow food crops for a year or two, then let the soil bare. In contrast, the Port-Bouet test site of the French Institute of Oil and Fats recommends the use of Centrosema pubes-cens, a very legume-adapted legume so as to prevent the invasion of graminaceous weeds . However, covering plants sometimes competes with coconut trees for moisture. In the past, little research was done on this issue of water competition in coconuts, so we tried to determine the effect of cultivation practices on soil moisture