Evaluation of Sorghum-Cowpea Intercrop Productivity in Savanna Agro-ecology using Competition Indices

The competitive behaviour of sorghum-cowpea intercrops at different planting patterns were studied at theAbubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching and Research farm, Bauchi in the northern Guinea savanna ofNigeria during the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons. The treatments comprised of three row arrangements ofsorghum/cowpea mixtures; one row of sorghum for one row of cowpea (1S:1C), two rows of sorghum for onerow of cowpea (2S:1C) and one row of sorghum for two rows of cowpea (1S:2C), respectively. Sole crops ofsorghum and cowpea were included as check to compare yields of intercropped mixtures. Results indicated thatgrain and straw yields of both sorghum and cowpea were higher in sole cropping than in the intercroppingmixtures. However, the 2S:1C planting arrangement exhibited higher LER, competitive indices values, SPI andMAI (N7857.11) compared to the other planting arrangements and the sole crops. From this study, it is inferredthat intercropping of sorghum with cowpea at 2S:1C planting pattern will give higher income, better land useefficiency and thus enhancing sustainability of crop production than sole culture of each crop species