Agronomic Evaluation of Sorghum and Cowpea Intercropped at Different Spatial Arrangements

Field experiment was conducted at Gedarif state at two locations for two consecutive seasons (2006 and 2007) under rain-fed conditions, to investigate the effects of intercropping sorghum and cowpea on the performance of sorghum and cowpea. The experiment consisted of six treatments; sole sorghum crop, sole cowpea crop and four spatial arrangements of 2:2, 1:1, 2:1 and 1:2 rows for sorghum alternated with cowpea. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was used to evaluate the productivity. In general, the results indicated that yield significant differences among the spatial arrangements. 1:1 arrangement obtained the highest values of sorghum panicle weight (57g), sorghum grain yield (1079kg/ha), sorghum hay weight (5572kg/ha) and combined total hay weight (7337kg/ha) for both sorghum and cowpea. Moreover, the best total LER (2.11) was obtained under 1:1 spatial arrangement.