Abstract

A field experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted at the research farm of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Moor Plantation Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria in 2003 and 2004 cropping seasons. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate five cowpea cultivars; IT89KD-288, IT96D-610, IT99K 1060, IT95K-1072-57 and Ife Brown under sole, maize-based and maize-cassava based intercropping systems. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) among the five cowpea cultivars based on two-years average for 2003 and 2004 for number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, weight of 100 seeds and seed yield under sole cropping, maize-based and maize-cassava based intercropping systems. The results showed that IT96D-610 recorded high number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, weight of 100 seeds and seed yield in sole, cowpea-maize and cowpea-maize-cassava intercropping systems. The cowpea cultivar IT96D-610 recorded yield of 2.5 t/ha under cowpea sole cropping whereas 2.5 t/ha under maize intercropping system and 2.2 t/ha under maize-cassava intercropping system. From rhizosphere soil isolate (RSI), cowpea cultivar IT96D-610 was found most compatible with intercropping systems and the least was IT89KD-288. Therefore, cultivar IT96D-610 could be recommended for both sole and intercropping by small holder farmers.

Key words: Cowpea cultivars, sole cropping, intercropping, rank summation index.