Article Sidebar
Article Details
NAJ supports free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research and development practice are made widely available. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The Journal adopts and uses the CC: BY license and is open access. This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Copyright for articles published in this Journal is retained by the Journal.
Main Article Content
Effect of planting densities and time of introduction of maize on the performance of intercropped maize and melon in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during the rainy season (May-August) of 2013 and 2014 at the Kogi State Agricultural Development Project Research Farm, Anyigba, Nigeria to investigate the effect of population density and time of introduction of maize on the yield of melon and maize in a melon-maize intercrop. The experiment was a 5 x 3 split-plot laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The result indicated that population density and time of introduction of maize had no significant effect on yield and yield components of melon but significant on the number of maize cobs per plot, cob yield/ha and grain yield of maize. Maize grain yield increased with increase in maize population up to 40,000ha-1. Interaction effect of time of introduction and population density was significant on the grain yield of maize. Competition indices like LER and LEC were at advantage. At each level of maize population density, LER was greater than 1, indicating efficiency of resource use while LEC values were more than 0.25 signifying potential productivity of the intercrop. Both LER and LEC values were highest at 4 weeks after planting melon and at 40,000ha-1 of maize.
Keywords: Melon, Maize, intercropping, and planting density
