Weed Species Distribution of Juvenile Oil Palm Tree (<i>Elaeis guineensis</i>) Intercropped with Maize (<i>Zea mays</i>), Okra (<i>Abelmoshus esculentus</i>) and Pepper (<i>Capsicum anuum</i> var. <i>abbreviatum</i>)

• Main Authors: Ayodele Samuel OLUWATOBI, Kehinde Stephen OLORUNMAIYE
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca 2014-12-01
• Series: Notulae Scientia Biologicae
• Online Access: http://notulaebiologicae.ro/index.php/nsb/article/view/9358

<span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;letter-spacing:-.2pt; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>This field experiment was carried out to evaluate the weed species distribution in the experimental plots of an intercrop of juvenile oil palm trees (<i>Elaeis guineensis</i> Jacq.) with maize (<i>Zea mays </i>Linn.), okra (<i>Abelmoschus esculentus </i>Moench) and pepper (<i>Capsicum annuum</i> var. abbreviatum). This was carried out during the cropping season between July and October 2012. The crops were intercropped with the juvenile oil palm trees of about 3-years-old. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized block design with five (5) replicates. The treatments comprised of intercropping distances of 1 m, 2 m and 3 m each for the three (3) crops (maize, okra and pepper) and a plot for each of the three (3) arable crops without oil palm trees as control. Weed species distribution was carried out in each of the plots to determine the Simpson’s Diversity Index (D), Simpson’s Index of Diversity (1-D) and Simpson’s Reciprocal Index (¹/_D). Weed species’ frequency, density, relative density, relative frequency, importance value, abundance, dominance and relative dominance were also computed from data collected at 3WAP and 6WAP. The results showed that the control plot has the highest weed species distribution at 3WAP having the lowest Simpson’s Diversity Index (D) of 0.0930. Okra plot has the least weed species distribution with the highest Simpson’s Diversity Index (D) of 0.2726. At 6WAP, the pepper plot has the highest weed species distribution having the lowest Simpson’s Diversity Index (D) of 0.1741. Control plot has the least weed species distribution with highest Simpson’s Diversity Index (D) of 0.2831.</span>