Tillage Practices and Fertilizer Rates in Maize-Soybean Intercrop

A two year experiment was conducted at the Teaching & Research Farm, University of Agriculture, Makurdi to determine the effect of tillage practices & fertilizer rates on Maize-Soybean Intercrop. The experimental design consisted of three factors: cropping system at two levels (sole and intercrops), tillage practices at two levels (zero tillage and ridges) and fertilizer rates at three levels (0, 150 and 300 kg/ha of NPK 20:10:10). The treatments were laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a split-split plot arrangement and replicated three times. The cropping systems were assigned to the main plots, tillage practices to sub-plots and the fertilizer rates were in the sub-sub plots. Results showed that Intercropping reduced the yields of both crops compared with their sole crops. There were higher yields from crops cultivated on ridges as a result of improved access to soil moisture than no-tillage. Applying fertilizer significantly (P