TITLE:
Performance of Maize (Zea mays L.) and Land Equivalent Ratio under Maize-Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) Intercropping System
AUTHORS:
Kwadwo Gyasi Santo, Fuseini Bawaror Bugilla, Abdul Aziz Khalid, Kwabena Atakora, Muntala Abdulai, Daniel Ntiamoah Afreh, Patrick Mawuenyegan Norshie
KEYWORDS:
Intercropping, Maize, Groundnut, Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
19,
2023
ABSTRACT: Soil fertility continues to decline in Ghana due to unsustainable human activities like bush burning, quarrying, improper farming practices, among others. To resolve this challenge, crop farmers resort to continuous use of mineral fertilizers in Ghana, which contaminates the environment and makes crop farming less sustainable and productive. One of the strategies to improve soil fertility and productivity for sustainable crop yields is intercropping. Studies were, therefore, undertaken at Miminaso in the Ejura-Sekyedumase municipality of Ashanti Region of Ghana during the 2020 cropping seasons to determine the effects of spatial row arrangement and time of planting maize and groundnut intercrops on productivity of maize and land equivalent ratio (LER). One row of maize and one row of groundnut (1M1G), one row of maize and two rows of groundnut (1M2G), two rows of maize and one row of groundnut (2M1G), two rows of maize and two rows of groundnut (2M2G), sole maize (M) and sole groundnut (G) were factorially arranged with concurrent planting of intercrops (0 WAP), planting groundnut one week after planting maize (1 WAP) and planting groundnut two weeks after planting maize (2 WAP) in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicates. There were significant treatment interaction (P