Evaluation of Growth and Yield of Sorghum Cultivars as Influenced by Intercropping of Soybean

Abstract

The fast-growing world population and reduction in the land for agricultural purposes have threatened the demand for food thus making intercropping an indispensable farming practice. Hence, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the growth and yield of sorghum cultivars as influenced by intercropping of soybean at a Tertiary Institution Research Farm Ogbomoso, and the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), Idofian during the 2021 cropping season using appropriate standard techniques. Data obtained show that sole sorghum out-yielded the intercropped and decreased as the population of component soybean decreased. A significantly lower number of pods 18.93 and 32.48 and seeds 79.2 and 68.9 per plant respectively for LAUTECH and NCAM were recorded at the treatment where full populations of both crops were intercropped. Irrespective of cultivar and location the lowest grain yield of sorghum at the intercropped was obtained at the population ratio 100SH:100SO but the least grain yields of soybean were recorded at the 100SH:25SO population ratio. Regardless of the sorghum cultivar, the highest intercropping advantage as measured by Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) and Land Equivalent Coefficient (LEC) indices was observed at 100SH:100SO with Samsorg 47 cultivar. This population ratio and sorghum cultivar is recommended for adoption.