INFLUENCE OF PLANT SPACING ON MAIZE IN A COWPEA-MAIZE CROPPING SYSTEM

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm College of Agricultural Studies – Sudan University of Science and Technology– Shambat Sudan. Shambat is located in the area geographically situated at longitude 32-32º east and latitude 15 - 40º north and 383 m above the sea level, in the time period of Summer 2013.The goal of the study is to choose the best spacing among different concentration that give higher fodder maize (Mojtamaa 45) using a Randomize Complete Block Design (RCBD) in the area(16*9)m2 in four replicates and four treatments viz., (S1)0.5m, (S2) 0.7m, (S3)0.9m and(S4)1.2m. Different characters were measured including plant height (cm), number of leaves/plant, number of nodules/plant, stem diameter (cm), fresh weight (gm) and dry weight (gm). The statistical analysis showed highly significant differences for fresh weight. The spacing S2 (0.7m) showed higher forage fresh yield (1050 g/ plant), spacing S1 (0.5m) showed higher forage dry yield of 375 g/ plant.