Research Article

Cassava-Maize Intercropping System; Implication for Growth of Cultivars, Land Equivalent Ratio in the Southern Guinea Savanna Agro-ecological Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Intercropping has been an ancient farming practice that is recently gaining attention in present day research due to the robust agronomic potential embedded and land use efficiency. Understanding the efficacy of land use will help farmers reduce production cost, maximize nutrient use and other production resource for optimum yield. This field experiment was conducted at Prince Abubakar Audu University Research Farm during the 2021/2022 rainy season to investigate the implication of Cassava – Maize intercropping on growth of cassava and maize cultivars, Land Equivalent Ratio in Anyigba, Kogi State. The treatments were four cassava cultivars; TMS0581, TME419, Local (N.S 8082) and TMS30572, three maize cultivars; Samaz52, Oba super6 and Local combined in respective sole and mixed cropping pattern to give a total of 19 treatments altogether. The experiment was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three (3) replicates to give a total of 57 plots. Results showed that intercropping Tms0581 cultivar of cassava with Obasuper6 hybrid maize produced the tallest maize plants at 4WAS, while Local/Samaz52 produced the tallest maize plants at 6WAS. Ni significant effect of cropping system was recorded for plant height at 8WAS, Number of leaves at 4, 6 & 8WAS and leaf length at 8WAS respectively. Tme419/Samaz52 and Tms0581/Obasuper6 produced maize with the longest leaves at 4 & 6 WAS respectively. Sole cropping of TME 419 cassava cultivar produced significantly, tallest cassava plants at 4, 6 & 8MAP respectively. Longest petiole was obtained with Tms30572/Obasuper6 at 4MAP, Tms30572/Obasuper6 (sole) at 6MAP, and Local/Samaz52 at 8MAP respectively. Local/Samaz52 (sole) and N.S 8082 performed best for number of leaves at 6 and 8MAP as no significant effect of cropping system was observed at 4MAP. Interaction of cropping system shows that Tme419 cassava had the highest intercropping advantage with Samaz52 on cassava heights, Local cassava cultivar on number of leaves against Obasuper6 variety of maize. Petiole of Tme30571 cassava cultivars became more developed and elongated than other cultivars when intercropped with Obasuper6 LER of TME419/SAMAZ52 being the highest confound best result and intercropping advantage for growth characteristics of component crop cultivars.