Greener
Journal of  Agricultural Sciences
Vol. 2 (8), pp.398-405,
December
2012

 ISSN: 2276-7770 

Research
Paper

Manuscript Number:110712239

 

Effect of spacing and cutting management on survival,
growth and biomass production of Moringa oleifera
intercropped with maize on-farm at Gairo inland plateau,
Morogoro in Tanzania

 

Ezekiel Edward, Shabani A.O. Chamshama, Yonika M. Ngaga
and Mathew A. Mndolwa

 

 

Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Sokoine
University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3010, Morogoro,
Tanzania

Tanzania Forestry Research Institute, P. O. Box 95,
Lushoto, Tanzania.

Corresponding Author’s Email: mathewmndolwa @ yahoo.com

Abstract:

A study was carried out at Gairo, Tanzania to determine
appropriate planting spacing and cutting management for
optimising maize yield without jeorpadising the potential of
Moringa oleifera to produce sufficient biomass. Two trials
(on-farm spacing-intercropping and on-farm pollarding
height-intercropping) were laid out using Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD). Assessments were done at tree
ages of 6, 12, and18 for the spacing trial and at tree ages
of 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months for the pollarding trial.
Grain weights were measured on a yearly basis (seasons).
Plot means for all response variables were subjected to
standard Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) and significant means
were separated by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).
Results for the spacing trial showed that, overall all
growth parameters increased significantly with spacing, and
tree growth was generally higher in monoculture compared to
intercropped plots. During the last assessment, foliar and
stem biomass ranged from 571.57 kg/ha for maize+150cm
pollarding height to 682.15 kg/ha for maize+50 cm pollarding
height and from 181.72 kg/ha for 150 cm pollarding height to
254.29 kg/ha for maize+100 cm pollarding height
respectively. Moringa intercropping is recommended to be
done only during the first cropping season, due to severe
competition thereafter.
 
Keywords: Moringa, Gairo, pollarding, maize

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