Sowing season of corn with cowpea and corn intercropping in the weed control. I. Green ears yield.
2006
SILVA, P. S. L. e | SILVA, P. I. B. e | OLIVEIRA, O. F. de | SOUSA, R. P. de | FREIRE FILHO, F. R.
Green ears yield losses caused by weeds may reach up to 52%. Reducing the use of herbicides is one of agriculture's major goals and several alternatives are currently being investigated, including intercropping. The goal of this work was to evaluate the effects of cowpea sowing season, intercropped with corn, on green ear yield of two corn cultivars. The experiment was carried out as random blocks with four replicates. Corn cultivars AG 1051 and AG 2060 were submitted to the following treatments: no hoeing, two hoeings (20 and 40 days after planting), and cowpea planting (cultivar BR 4, with indeterminate growth) at corn planting and at 5, 10, and 15 days later. Twenty-eight weed species were found in the experiment area. The highest marketable green ear yields were obtained with hoeing, while the lowest were obtained without hoeing. Intercropping with cowpea, especially when done early, provided intermediate results, indicating that the legume controlled weeds to a certain extent, which was, however, insufficient to avoid corn yield loss. The cultivars do not differ with regard to green ear yield. Cowpea yields were nearly null (data not shown).
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