Effect of egusi planting density on productivity of egusi/turmeric intercrops in southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

Field trials were conducted at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Teaching and Research Farm, Umudike (Lat. 05o29'N, Long. 07o33'E), Southeastern Nigeria in 2008 and 2009 to determine the effect of egusi planting density on the productivity of component crops in egusi/turmeric intercropping system. Turmeric at 80, 000 plants ha"1 was intercropped with egusi three planting densities of 20, 000; 40, 000 and 66, 670 plants ha^1. The experiment was laid out as Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Across the planting densities, intercropping reduced egusi seed yield by 44% in 2008 and 43% in 2009. Similarly, on the average, intercropping reduced turmeric rhizome yield by 41, 53 and 57% at egusi planting densities of 20, 000; 40, 000 and 66, 670 plants ha^1, respectively. There was yield disadvantage as depicted by LER below unity (0.995) when turmeric was intercropped with egusi at 20, 000 and 40, 000 plants ha^1 and a yield advantage of 19% (LER = 1.19) when turmeric was intercropped with egusi at 66, 670 plants ha"1. Economic analysis (gross monetary returns) showed that sole turmeric was more profitable than sole egusi or egusi/turmeric intercrop at lower egusi planting densities. Comparative assessment of the mixtures indicated that it was better to grow the two crops separately. © 2013 Asian Networkfor Scienific Information.