Abstract
The trial assessed the viability and profitability of maize and melon production under sole and mixed cropping system on a forest Ultisol. This was conducted as an on-farm trial at Evboneka, Edo State, Nigeria in April 2008 and 2009. The trial involved three cropping patterns (sole maize, sole melon and maize/melon mixture) and four levels of NPK fertilizer (0, 200, 400 and 600 kg ha-1) in a 3 × 4 factorial arrangement in randomized complete block design with three replications. The results revealed that economic yield of maize and melon increased as the fertilizer rate increase. The sole crops had higher yield than in their mixed stands in the entire fertilizer rate. However, land equivalent ratio (LER) values of the mixed crop stands were higher than in their respective sole cropping. The LER was highest (1.47) in maize/melon mixed stands treated with 400 kg NPK ha-1. The production cost and economic return followed the same trend as they increased with an increase in fertilizer rate. The sole melon crop had the lowest production cost ($ 316.50-588.51) and economic return ($ 873-1,305) in the entire fertilizer rate compared to the sole maize and maize/melon mixed crop in that order. The net farm income does not follow a definite trend among the three cropping patterns, but the maize/melon intercrop value ($ 748.11-997.52) was the highest. The optimum yield was produced from maize/melon mixed stands treated with 200 kg ha-1. This treatment also gave the highest benefit-cost ratio of 2.19, in addition to ensuring better crop diversity in the rainforest ultisol.
Highlights
The commonest agro-technique by resource-poor farmers in many parts of the tropics is growing of two or more crops on the same field simultaneously (Steiner, 1991)
Treatments consisted of three crop combinations (sole maize, sole melon and maize/melon intercrop and four NPK fertilizer rates (0 (0 kg N + 0 kg P + 0 kg K), 200 (30 kg N + 13.58 kg P + 24.90 kg K), 400 (60 kg N + 27.16 kg P + 49.80 kg K) and 600 (90 kg N + 40.74 kg P + 74.70 kg K) kg ha-1)
The experimental site is characterized by low native soil fertility (Tab. 1) since it contain less than the critical levels of nutrients (Ibedu et al, 1988)
Summary
The commonest agro-technique by resource-poor farmers in many parts of the tropics is growing of two or more crops on the same field simultaneously (Steiner, 1991). Intercropping or crop mixtures mimic natural ecosystem and are more dynamic biologically than sole crops. Crops grown in mixtures have been found to utilize resources better than sole crops (Chinaka and Obiefuna, 2000). Mixed cropping is done to ensure food security against total crop failure or with intent to maximize yield and profit by making use of the same labour (Yusuf et al, 2008). According to Javanmard et al (2009), intercropping is popular because of its advantages over sole cropping which include security of returns and higher profitability due to higher combined returns per unit area of land. Crops under intercropping systems are less susceptible to weeds, pests and diseases and minimize erosion through water infiltration control (CTA, 1995)
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