ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted from June to November, during the 2013 and 2014 cropping
seasons at the Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria, to evaluate the effects of
intra-row spacing of pearl millet and cropping systems on the productivity of soybean-pearl millet
intercrop and to assess the yield advantages of the intercropping system. The experiment was a 3×4
factorial arrangement of treatments, fitted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), replicated
four times. The cropping systems (sole soybean, sole pearl millet and soybean-pearl millet intercrop)
constituted the main plots, while the intra-row spacing of pearl millet (15 cm, 20 cm, 25 cm and 30
cm) into soybean were allocated to the subplots. Results of study showed that to maximize intercrop
yields of soybean and pearl millet in a soybean-pearl millet intercrop, the optimal intra-row spacing
for pearl millet is 30 cm. Intercropping soybean and pearl millet significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced yields
of soybean (25.0 % and 22.2 % respectively, in years 2013 and 2014) and that of pearl millet (34.4 %
and 33.3 % respectively, in years 2013 and 2014). Though, the highest land equivalent ratio (LER)
values, highest land equivalent coefficient (LEC) values and lowest competitive ratio (CR) values
were recorded for pearl millet sown into soybean at the intra-row spacing of 15 cm, however, highestaggressivity was obtained sowing pearl millet into soybean at the intra-row spacing of 25 cm, the level
at which both crops dominated each other.
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