Department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Okonji, C.J., Department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria; Okeleye, K.A., Department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria; Oyekanmi, A.A., Department of Plant Physiology and Crop Production, University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
A field trial was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (latitude 7°15 N' and longitude 3°25 E') located in the forest-savanna transition zone of South West Nigeria in 2002 and 2003 to assess the agronomic growth and yield of intercropping cassava and rice. The treatments consisted of two cassava cultivars and three rice varieties in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The two cassava cultivars were TMS 30572 and TME 1 and the three rice varieties were interspecific hybrid WAB 189-B-B-B-6-HB, ITA 150 and ITA 321. In 2002, cropping system had no significant effects on growth parameters of rice varieties. However, in 2003, cropping system significantly decreased the number of tillers, but increased the panicle length of rice. Cropping system significantly decreased the number of grains per panicle in 2003 and grain yield of rice in both years. The grain yield of rice was significantly conelated with number of tillers (r = 0.83), LAI (r = 0.81) and number of panicles per hill (r = 0.91) in both years. In 2002, tuber yields of the two cassava cultivars in mixtures were similar to the yields of their corresponding sole crop plants. However, in 2003, sole cassava cvs TMS 30572 and TME 1 produced significantly 26 and 23% higher tuber yield than their conesponding intercrops. In 2002 and 2003, TMS 30572 produced 35 and 25 t ha-1 while TME 1 produced 27 and 171 ha-1 tuber yield, respectively, in mixtures. © 2007 Academic Journals.