International Journal of Horticulture 2016, Vol.6, No.1, 1
-
7
1
Research Report
Open Access
Growth, Yield and Yield Components of Pineapple in a Pineapple-Pepper-Cowpea
Intercropping System
A.J. Ajayi
1,
, S.O. Agele
2
, O.P. Aiyelari
2
1 Department of Crop Production Technology, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, PMB 724, Akure, Nigeria
2 Department of Crop Soil and Pest Management, Federal University of Technology, PMB 704, Akure, Nigeria
Corresponding author email
International Journal of Horticulture, 2016, Vol.6, No.1 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2016.06.0001
Received: 16 Nov., 2015
Accepted: 06 Jan., 2016
Published: 03 Feb., 2016
Copyright
© 2016
Ajayi et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Ajayi A.J., Agele S.O., and Aiyelari O.P., 2016, Growth, yield and yield components of pineapple in a pineapple-pepper-cowpea intercropping system,
International Journal of Horticulture, 2016, 6(1): 1-7 (doi
Abstract
The effects of time of sowing cowpea into pineapple-pepper intercrop on growth and yields of pineapple in a
pineapple-pepper-cowpea based intercropping system was investigated in the rainy and late seasons of 2011 and 2012 at two
locations in Akure, a humid rainforest zone of Nigeria. The experiments which were based on additive series of intercropping system
were laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Experimental treatments were based on varying time (at 3
weeks intervals) of sowing cowpea into pineapple-pepper intercrop in addition to the sole crops of cowpea, pepper and pineapple.
The pineapple growth indices were not influenced significantly by the intercropping. Relatively higher fruit yield was obtained with
delayed cowpea introduction of cowpea into the pineapple-pepper intercrop. However, significantly lower pineapple fruit yield (12.8
t/ha) was obtained when cowpea was sown simultaneously at pepper transplanting while fruit yields declined between 70-73 % of
sole pineapple and when cowpea was sown at 3, 6 and 9 WAT for the rainy season crop. The decline in fruit yields ranged between
18-39 % when cowpea was sown simultaneously with pepper for the late season crop.
Keywords
Intercrop, Additive series, Resource utilisation, Competition, Cropping season,
Ananas comosus
1 Introduction
Pineapple [
Ananas comosus
(L.) Merrill] is an
important tropical fruit that belongs to the family
Bromeliaceae
(Bartholomew et al., 2003).
The fruit is
consumed in Nigeria mainly in fresh form as fruit
salad and as juice extracted from fresh fruits.
Pineapple is a long gestation crop with initial slow
growth during establishment phase. The resultant lack
of immediate returns on investment in the first year of
cropping and challenges associated with management
of the wide spaces between the rows of pineapple,
pose serious challenge to farmers. Thus, the utilization
of the resources within the wide spacing of pineapple
rows during the early growth phase need to be
addressed. Sole crop of pineapple may not efficiently
use the growth resources (light, water and nutrient)
during its early / initial slow growth and development.
Intercropping pineapple with short duration food
crops such as pepper (
Capsicum spp
), with upright
growth habit and cowpea (
Vigna unguiculata
) may
enhance the efficiency of resource use during the
production cycle, food and income for farmers. This is
in addition to diversified production, reduced
dependency on one crop and spreads of labour and
income (Uriza et al., 2005).
Appropriate timing and scheduling of the growth
phases in which the component crops interact and
share resources on the field will enhance the
efficiency of resource utilization and productivity of
the intercrops (Olubode et al., 2012). The stage of
growth of the main crop (pineapple) and the first
minor component crop (pepper) at which cowpea, a
crop characterized by spreading growth habit is
introduced is critical as this practice will determine the
intensity of the competition among the intercrop
components. It is therefore imperative to determine
the appropriate time to sow cowpea into the
pineapple-pepper intercropping system in order to
minimize competition and enhancement of
productivity. The growth and yield of crop species
response to the available environmental resources and
stress factors of the growing season differ as there are
variations in prevailing soil and climatic environments
at different seasons of sowing (Agele and Olabomi,
2010). This study, therefore sought to determine the
effects of time of sowing cowpea into pineapple-pepper
