PRESENTER: JOYCE KAMENE KIMEU AD/NO. A138/19361/2011 DIPLOMA IN CROP PROTECTION

1. EFFECT OF BEAN PLANTING ARRANGEMENT ON WEED POPULATION AND YIELDS IN MAIZE / BEAN INTER – CROPPING. PRESENTER: JOYCE KAMENE KIMEU AD/NO. A138/19361/2011 DIPLOMA IN CROP PROTECTION SUPERVISOR: DR. E.S. ARIGA

2. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Maize – most important and popular cereal in the world.

3. PRODUCTION • developing countries – Half • sub sahara – 50%

4. Uses • Human - staple food • Livestock – • Industry – raw materials

5. Intercropping with legumes Challenges: weeds – A major constraint to production Contact– Hand weeding, Herbicides & intercropping

6. Materials and methods: Site – Field station at Kabete Campus Size – 08 Plot 2m x 2m In 3 repricates Time – july 2012 – Maize spacing 75x25cm Beans 45x20 Intercrop-single row 37.5cm Double row 17.5 x 40cm x 15 Maize variety H520 Beans GLP2

7. Table 1: Weed count Means followed by the same letter (s) along the column are not significant.

8. Table 2: Height of Maize Means followed by the same letter (s) along the column are not significantly different.

9. Table 3: Cob length Means followed by the same letter (s) along the column are not significantly different.

10. Table 4: Weight (grams) Means followed by same letter (s) along the column are not significantly different.

11. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Weed count The most common weeds identified in all the treatments were fine (Table 1). The most significant weed in three of the treatment was Black jack except in the single row. In the maize pure stand, Oxalis was also significant while in single row Amaranthus Spp was significant. Therefore weed control is necessary within the first 4 weeks after planting. Height of maize There were no significant differences in all the weeded treatments (Table 2). It shows that intercropping and weed control can reduce the effect of plant height and contribute to higher yields. Among the un-weeded treatments, pure stand maize significantly differed with other treatments.

12. Cob length There were no significant differences in both the single and double row weeded treatments. Weeded and un-weeded pure stand maize showed no significant difference. For un-weeded single and double, there was an effect to the length of the cobs. Uncontrolled weeds can therefore affect both the plant in the field as well as the produce. Maize yield There was no significant difference in un-weeded double row, single row and pure stand. Weeds affected all the treatments. For the weeded single, double and pure stand, no significant differences were shown. Un-weeded pure stand beans were most affected for there was significant difference. Weeds affect yields in any crop arrangement. The significant difference within the weeded and un-weeded is evident.

13. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The analysis done within the above different parameters showed that weed affects crops in all stages of growth. In the intercrops, suppression of weeds was evident. I therefore encourage farmers to intercrop maize with beans or other leguminous crops as a way of managing weeds since it is cheap, requires low technical knowhow, is environmentally friendly and has no chance of weed resistance build up.

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