Evaluation of Intercropping Maize with Soybean Under Different Fertiliser Levels in Niger State

This study evaluates the productivity of intercropping maize with soybean under different inorganic fertiliser levels in Niger State, North Central Nigeria. Intercropping of cereals with legumes is a traditional and widely practiced farming system in Nigerian savanna zones, offering potential advantages in land use efficiency, risk management, and soil nitrogen enrichment through biological nitrogen fixation. Niger State's dual maize-soybean farming communities provide a relevant context for optimising this intercropping system. This study establishes a randomised complete block design experiment at the Federal University of Technology Minna research farm, testing three fertiliser levels: no fertiliser, half recommended NPK rate, and full recommended NPK rate in both sole and intercrop configurations. Land equivalent ratio, maize grain yield, soybean grain yield, and system profitability are computed. Findings reveal that all intercrop treatments produce land equivalent ratios above 1.0, confirming the biological advantage of intercropping over sole cropping. The half-recommended NPK intercrop treatment achieves LER of 1.48, the highest in the experiment, demonstrating that reduced fertiliser input with intercropping outperforms full fertiliser sole crops in land use efficiency. Total system monetary returns are highest in the full NPK intercrop treatment. The study concludes that maize-soybean intercropping with reduced fertiliser offers both agronomic and economic advantages in Niger State. It recommends this system as a priority farming practice for extension promotion in the state's Middle Belt farming communities.

Keywords: intercropping, maize, soybean, land equivalent ratio, Niger State.