Full Length Research Paper

Hydrothermal effects on the performance of maize and cucumber intercrop in a tropical wet and dry climate in Nigeria

A. A. Makinde¹, N. J. Bello¹, F. O. Olasantan² and M. A. Adebisi³

¹Department of Water Resources Management and Agrometeorology, University of Agriculture, P.M.B 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

²Department of Horticulture, University of Agriculture, P.M.B 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

³Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Technology, University of Agriculture, P.M.B 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: hakmak4u@yahoo.com. Tel.: +234-803-8570-500, +234-702-5935-636.

Accepted 20 January, 2009

   Abstract

Maize and cucumber were intercropped in a simple randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates in two field trials in early and late planting seasons of 2004. The result showed that mean soil temperatures of 33 and 31°C at 5 and 10 cm respectively during late season could be said to have enhanced the productivity of cucumber yield by about 50% compared to early season with mean soil temperatures of 30 and 29°C at 5 and 10 cm below soil surface. The mean cucumber yield of 9 t/ha and 6.1 t/ha for mono and mixed crop respectively during early season trial was significantly lower (P <0.05) than the mean cucumber yield of 15.34 t/ha and 12.34 t/ha for late season. However, early season maize fresh cob weight (178.4 g/ha) and weight of seeds per cob (122.4 g/ha) were significantly higher than that recorded for late season with 152.2 g/ha and 64.1 g/ha respectively. This could be attributed to suitably high rainfall of 27.0 and 324.6 mm during establishment and vegetative phenological stages respectively during the early cropping season compared with corresponding values of 12.6 and 206.5 mm during late season trial.

Key words: Hydrothermal, agro-meteorological, precipitation.