Abstract
Field experiments were carried out between September and December in 2007 and 2008 at Akamkpa (150 15'' N; 80 22'' E), Nigeria. The objective was to investigate yield and productivity of maize and soybean as sole crops and as additive mixtures (100:100) in response to five levels of nitrogen (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 kg/ha) and five crop arrangements (sole maize at 53,333 plants/ha, sole soybean at 266,666 plants/ha and maize: soybean intercrop arrangements of 1:1, 2:2 and 1:2). The trial was a split-plot design in a randomized complete block with nitrogen in main plot and crop arrangement in sub-plot, with three replications. Intercropping had no significant effect on grain yield of maize in 2007. In 2008, maize grain yield grain yield reduction in mixture was 6 percent compared to sole cropping. Soybean seed yield reduction in mixture was 32 and 43 percents in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Crop arrangement significantly influenced yield components and yield in both maize and soybean. Planting maize and soybean in 1:1, 2:2 or 1:2 arrangement had no significant effect on maize in 2007 but depressed grain yield of maize by 38, 35 and 14 percents in 2008. Spatial arrangement of maize and soybean in 1:1, 2:2, and 1:2 depressed soybean yield by 51, 44 and 45 percents in 2007 and by 86, 64 and 73 percents in 2008. Intercropping reduced the relative maize grain yield by only 1 percent in 2007 and from 4 to 9 percents in 2008. Soybean relative yields were from 31 to 34 percent lower than sole crop yield in 2007 and 39 to 46 percent lower in 2008. The relative yield totals for both 2007 and 2008 were well above unity, an indication that the system was highly productive. This implies that intercrops were 64, 66 and 63 percents in 2007 and 43, 57 and 65 percents in 2008, more productive than the sole crops at 2:2, 1:2 and 1:1 arrangements, respectively. Late season maize and soybean may be planted in 2:2 or 1:2 arrangements to take advantage of optimum soybean seed yield and 65-100 percents of the maize grain yield in the humid South Southern Nigeria.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop in the family Poaceae
Expansion in the cultivation of the early season maize crop in the humid Tropical Rainforest agro-ecology of South Southern Nigeria is limited by lack of appropriate technologies for preservation of the fresh harvest
Field experiments were conducted in September to December of 2007 and 2008 to study the effect of nitrogen application, intercropping and crop arrangement on yield and yield components of late season maize/soybean intercropping
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop in the family Poaceae. It is an important source of carbohydrate in human diet in the developing world and as animal feed worldwide. Expansion in the cultivation of the early season maize crop in the humid Tropical Rainforest agro-ecology of South Southern Nigeria is limited by lack of appropriate technologies for preservation of the fresh harvest. Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is a leguminous oil crop in the family Papilionaceae It is an important source of protein for man and animals. This is due to heavy rainfall which predisposes the crop to rot when grown and harvested as an early season crop (Oko et al, 2000). They have, shown that soybean crop can successfully be cultivated as a sole crop in the Tropical Rain Forest of Nigeria during the late planting season to take advantage of the approaching harmatan winds in the preservation of the harvest
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