Cover Crop Seeds | Centrosema pubescens (CP)
Buy Centrosema pubescens (CP) seeds from Chemiseed. Shade-tolerant leguminous cover crop for established Malaysian oil palm and rubber plantations.
Quick Facts
PLANT CHARACTER
Robust, creeping perennial legume with strong shade tolerance. Produces persistent ground cover even under heavy plantation canopies. Deep-rooting system contributes to subsoil nutrition and aggregate stability.
USES
Nitrogen fixation under shade, erosion control, soil cover in cacao and agroforestry systems, and rapid establishment for replanting and slope protection. Centrosema pubescens sustains biological nitrogen fixation at 35–450 kg N/ha/year even under canopy shade exceeding 80% — making it the primary choice where other cover crops fail beneath closed cacao or rubber canopies. Tissue nitrogen remains stable at 2.4–2.7%, maintaining continuous fertility contribution through leaf turnover.
GROWTH HABIT
Achieves 100% ground cover within 2–3 months under adequate rainfall — one of the fastest-establishing options for replanting and slope protection phases. Suitable for slope gradients where erosion risk is high and rapid establishment is critical.
PLANTING TYPE & SEEDING RATE
Monoculture or mixture: 2–4 kg/ha
PLANTING METHOD
Direct sowing — broadcast or rows
DRY MATTER PRODUCTION
5–9 t/ha/year
NO. OF SEEDS/KG
~65,000 seeds
By the numbers
Species performance data from agronomic field observation and institutional references across SE Asian plantation systems.
Centrosema pubescens is the cover crop of choice where other species fail under closed canopies. Research into shade-tolerant legume performance in cacao agroforestry is ongoing.
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