Growth and Yield in Maize/Cassava Intercrop As Affected by Interactions of Weed Control Methods (Report‪)‬

In Nigeria and in many other developing nations, intercrop has remained the traditional farming practice. It is a wide spread food crop production system in the humid and sub humid tropics of West Africa (Akobundu 1980; Anuebunwa 1991, Ande et al., 2008). Cassava-based cropping systems are more prevalent because cassava is one of the most important food crops widely grown in several countries in sub Saharan Africa (Ayoola amd Makinde 2008) as it provides employment, income and food for farm families (Ugwu and Ukpabi 2002). Maize on the other hand is the principal cereal crop associated with cassava in the humid tropics due to efficient utilization of resources (Amanulla et al., 2006a). The use of Integrated weed management has been indentified a viable weed control method in smallholder farms (Akobundu 1992, 1996) as it can lead to sustainable food production among other advantages (Chikoye et al., 2004). Integrated weed management involves the combination of two or more weed control practices at lower inputs. A lower corn yield has been reported where mucuna (Velvetbean) was intercropped with corn or cassava (Chikoye et al., 2002), however, a higher maize grain yield has been reported under integrated weed management (Chikoye et al., 2004, 2005) while cassava yield was best in simultaneous cropping with Pueraria (IITA, 1997). Little is known about the interactions of weed control practices on the growth and yield of maize and cassava in an intercrop in southern Guinea savanna ecology of Nigeria. The objective of this study, therefore, was to assess the response of maize and cassava in an intercrop to different treatment combinations emanating from the use of two pre-emergence herbicides with or without hoe-weeding under five legume cover plants. Materials and methods