Full Length Research Paper
Abstract
Two field experiments were conducted in 2020 and 2021 at the research field of Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Mampong campus, Ghana to evaluate the effect of relative time of planting two maize varieties intercrop with one soybean variety on yield productivity in transition zone of Ghana. The two maize varietal combinations were extra-early maturing maize (Abontem) + early-maturing soybean (Nangbaar) and medium-maturing maize (Obatanpa) + Nangbaar, combined with three relative times of planting which are simultaneous, Abontem planted 10 days before (DB) Nangbaar, and Nangbaar planted 10 days before Obatanpa. The experimental design used was a 2 × 3 factorial experiment laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Sole Abontem, Obatanpa, and Nangbaar were added as checks and to compare with combined intercrop options with the sole crops. The results showed that the number of cobs and filled cobs per plot were highest in Abontem planted sole, Nangbaar planted 10 days before Abontem and simultaneously in both seasons. For soybeans, Nangbaar planted sole, and 10 days before Abontem produced the highest number of pods and the number of filled pods per plot in both seasons. Both maizeplanted soles produced the highest yield (6.93 t ha-1 and 6.25 t ha-1) followed closely by both maize planted simultaneously with soybean in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Nangbaar planted sole produced the highest yield (1.99 t ha-1 and 1.65 t ha-1) in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, respectively; hence this is recommended to farmers.
Key words: Component crop, crop interactions, intercrop, maize variety, soybean variety.
Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0