last final thesis of umer

There was also significant difference (P<0.05) on grain yield due to the cropping system. Sole
cropped cowpea had significantly higher grain yield (1940 kg ha -1 ) than the intercropped system
(1459 kg ha -1 ) (Table 13). The grain yield reduction of the intercropped cowpea could be due to
shading effect of the maize crop on cowpea during the different growth stage and inter-specific
competition. In consistence with this result, Muoneke et al. (2007) reported similar yield reduction
in soybean inter cropped with maize and sorghum and attributed the yield depression to inter
specific competition.
Table 13. Interaction effect of the intercropped cowpea varieties and plant populations on grain
yield of cowpea in maize/cowpea intercropping.
Cowpea varieties
Cowpea density
Kenketi Black eye
bean
Bole
50% 931 b 784 a 696 a
75% 2086 cd 1404 b 1408 b
100% 2298 d 1778 bc 1745 bc
Intercrop
Sole crop
Variety x Density
Cropping system
1459 b
1940 a
LSD0.05 213.0 404.3
CV (%) 7.79 3.26
NS = non-significant, CV (%) = coefficient of variation in %, LSD = least significant difference
at 5% level of significance , Means in column and followed by the same letters are not significantly
different at 5% level of significance according to LSD test.
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