Hydrothermal effects on the performance of maize and cucumber intercrop in a tropical wet and dry climate in Nigeria

Abstract

Maize and cucumber were intercropped in a simple randomized complete block design (RCBD) with
three replicates in two field trials in early and late planting seasons of 2004. The result showed that
mean soil temperatures of 33 and 31°C at 5 and 10 cm respectively during late season could be said to
have enhanced the productivity of cucumber yield by about 50% compared to early season with mean
soil temperatures of 30 and 29°C at 5 and 10 cm below soil surface. The mean cucumber yield of 9 t/ha
and 6.1 t/ha for mono and mixed crop respectively during early season trial was significantly lower (P
<0.05) than the mean cucumber yield of 15.34 t/ha and 12.34 t/ha for late season. However, early season
maize fresh cob weight (178.4 g/ha) and weight of seeds per cob (122.4 g/ha) were significantly higher
than that recorded for late season with 152.2 g/ha and 64.1 g/ha respectively. This could be attributed to
suitably high rainfall of 27.0 and 324.6 mm during establishment and vegetative phenological stages
respectively during the early cropping season compared with corresponding values of 12.6 and 206.5
mm during late season trial.