Does intercropping play a role in alleviating weeds in cassava as a non-chemical tool of weed management? – A review

Abstract

Cassava is an important root and tuber crop in the tropics which requires intensive weed management at its early growth stages. This review emphasizes the potential of exploiting the option of intercropping as a non-chemical tool of weed management in cassava. The appropriateness and the significance of including intercropping solely and as a component of an integrated weed management system in cassava are further discussed. Literature suggests that intercropping is a successful option in managing weeds when the spatial and temporal compatibility of intercrop combinations is being achieved. In widespread cassava-based intercropping systems, intercropping itself has proven its ability to alleviate weeds up to 30–60%, or even up to 100% with the selection of a better compatible crop mixture such as the cassava-pumpkin intercrop combination. A number of studies conducted to ascertain the appropriate spatial and temporal compatibility levels of many intercrop combinations have provided evidence of their weed suppressive ability in cassava-based intercropping systems. The focus of such studies towards the basic agronomic, physiological and biochemical determinants of crop-weed interactions seems rather constricted. In conclusion, intercropping is suggested to be exploited as an effective weed management tool in cassava preferably through further research, prior to endorsing it as a proper alternative to chemical weed control measures, especially for the resource–poor farmers who probably can neither afford herbicides nor labour-intensive cultural methods for weed management.