ABSTRACT
Striga hermonthica, is a major constraint to sorghum production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study was conducted to assess the potential role of intercropping sorghum with different legumes for control of striga. Two types of cropping system (simultaneous and relay) and two row arrangements (single and double alternate) were used for intercropping with groundnut and soybean. The experiment included a standard treatment of sole crop of sorghum, grou dnut and soybean. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications for two cropping seasons of 2014 and 2015. From the result intercropping of sorghum with soybean and groundnut has significantly reduced the striga counts per plot as compared to sole sorghum. Lowest number of striga count (29.5) at vegetative stage and (19.7) at heading stages was recorded from simultaneous cropping of sorghum-soybean in double alternate row arrangements. The combined analysis result showed that sorghum grain yield and its components were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected by intercropping with groundnut and soybean. Significantly higher (P < 0.05) grain yield of sorghum (1.9 t ha-1) was obtained from single alternate row arrangement of sorghum-groundnut in relay intercropping. The study also demonstrated sorghum yield increment by 29.1% over the control sole crop. Higher yield was obtained from soybean intercropped with sorghum compared to groundnut due to higher competition for growth resources with sorghum. Land equivalent ratio of the system indicates that in both seasons of soybean and groundnut intercropped with sorghum resulted in a significant greater LER. The mean LER (1.9) of the system indicates that intercropping sorghum with this legume crops gave yield advantage and land productivity.
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