Effect of time of introduction of okra on the performance of component crops in okra - cowpea intercrop

The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources or ecological processes that would otherwise not be utilized by a single crop. Field experiment was conducted during the 2023 cropping season at the research field of the Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Nigeria to assess the land productivity in an Okra-Cowpea intercrop arrangements. Treatments consisted of intra-row okra a week after sowing cowpea, intra-row okra a week before cowpea, intra-row okra simultaneously with cowpea, sole okra and sole cowpea. These were laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results of the study showed that intra-row okra sown a week before cowpea recorded the highest yield and also highest value of land equivalent ratio (LER) indicating greater productivity per unit of land than all other intercrop mixtures. Similarly, silmultaneous sowing of okra and cowpea is also advantageous for cowpea in intercrop with okra hence, sowing okra a week before cowpea is recommended for optimum okra yield as well as the simultaneous sowing for cowpea yield in okra-cowpea intercrop arrangement.