EFFECT OF INTRODUCING GARDEN EGG TO FLUTED PUMPKIN IN A RELAY INTER CROP ON SOLE AND COMBINED GROWTH OF THE CROP MIXTURES
ABSTRACT
The effect of introducing garden egg (Solanum aethiopicum) to fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) in a relay intercrop on the growth of crop mixture under rainfed conditions (September to November, 2014) was investigated at the Faculty of Agriculture University of Benin, Benin City Nigeria.
Garden egg and a local variety of fluted pumpkin were sown sole and intercrop. Garden egg and fluted pumpkin were planted sole and intercropped to evaluate their interaction effect on growth parameters such as plant height, stem girth, leaf number, and leaf area. Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA).
The study reveals that intercropping of garden egg with fluted pumpkin significantly increased the growth of garden egg, as intercropped garden egg had significant increase as against sole garden egg. The same was not found to be true for fluted pumpkin as sole fluted pumpkin had significant growth increase but when intercropped, there was significant reduction in growth.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Self-sustaining, low-input, and energy-efficient agricultural systems in the context of sustainable agriculture have always been in the centre of attention of many farmers, researchers, and policy makers worldwide (Altieri et al., 1983; Altieri, 1999). However, most practices of modern agriculture, e.g. mechanization, monocultures, improved crop varieties, and heavy use of agrochemicals for fertilization and pest management, led to a simplification of the components of agricultural systems and to a loss of biodiversity. Restoring on-farm biodiversity through diversified farming systems that mimic nature is considered to be a key strategy for sustainable agriculture (Jackson et al., 2007; Scherr and McNeely, 2008). On-farm biodiversity, if correctly assembled in time and space, can lead to agroecosystems capable of maintaining their own soil fertility, regulating natural protection against pests, and sustaining productivity (Thrupp, 2002; Scherr and McNeely, 2008). Biodiversity in agroecosystems can be enhanced in time through crop rotations and sequences in space through cover crops, intercropping, and agroforestry (Altieri, 1999; Malézieux et al., 2009). While modern agriculture has brought vast increases in productivity to the world’s farming systems, it is widely recognized that much of this may have come at the price of sustainability (Tilman et al., 2002; Lichtfouse et al., 2009). This is because modern farming systems imply the simplification of the structure of the environment over vast areas, replacing natural plant diversity with only a limited number of cultivated plants in extensive areas of arable monocultures (Vandermeer et al., 1998). By contrast, on farm biodiversity is familiar to traditional farmers mainly in developing countries, where traditional farming systems are characterized by their great degree of genetic diversity in the form of mixed cropping and agroforestry patterns, based on numerous varieties of domesticated crop species as well as their wild relatives (Altieri, 1999). These farming systems offer a means of promoting diversity of diet and income, stability of production, reduced insect and disease incidence, efficient use of labor, intensification of production with limited resources, and also maximization of returns under low levels of technology (Anil et al., 1998; Malézieux et al., 2009).
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