Influence of Plant Material (Tithonia, Neem, Gliricidia) on Weed Infestation under Amaranth Cultivation

摘要

The field experiment was conducted during at the Teaching and Research Farm, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. To evaluate the rate of Amaranth growth to different plant based mulching materials and their response to weed infestation. There were three plant materials incorporated into the soil which are tithonia, neem, gliricidia with four weed levels being weed free, weed once, weed twice. They were replicated three times making a total of thirty-six experimental plots. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), data collected was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and means were separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% probability level. Results from the experiment showed that better growth and yield of amaranth was obtained in the weed free plot. Both duration of weed eradication and weed infestation had significant effect on plant height, stem girth and yield of amaranth. In general, all these parameters increase as the duration of weed amaranth competition decreased, while growth parameters increase with an increase in weed eradication. However, highest value was obtained from tithonia mulch plots and neem mulch produced the lowest value on plant height and yield while gliricidia mulch gave the lowest value of stem girth.