Productivity of Plantain egusi melon mixtures in Southwestern Nigeria,

At Ayeye, South western Nigeria, flase horn plantain (Musa AAB) spaced 3x2m was intercropped with “Egusi” melon densities of 5,000-20,000 plants/ha for two seasons. Number of hands and number of fingers/bunch were not significantly increased with increasing melon density but the total bunch of plantain yield/ha increased by 27 and 19% in the two seasons. Melon seed yield was increased by 60% when melon density was increased from 5,000 to 20,000 plants/ha. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) for the intercrops with melon densities o 5,000; 10,000 and 20,000 plants/ha were 1.53, 1.78 and 2.19 while the Area-Time Equivalent Ratio (ATER) were 1.12, 1.23 and 1.39 respectively. Cash advantage due to intercropping (CAI) was highest at 20,000/plants/ha of melon indicating the profitability of the mixture.