International Journal of Scientific Research in Environmental Sciences (IJSRES), 1(5), pp. 71-77, 2013 Available online at http://www.ijsrpub.

com/ijsres ISSN: 2322-4983; 2013 IJSRPUB http://dx.doi.org/10.12983/ijsres-2013-p071-077

Full Length Research Paper Incorporation of Melon Shell at Different Stages of Land Preparation in the Management of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth in Maize (Zea mays L.)
Liman Rabba Muhammad, Mathew Ahmed*
Department of Crop Production Technology, College of Agriculture, P.M.B. 109, Mokwa, Niger State *Corresponding Author: grace_ahmed@yahoo.com
Received 19 March 2013; Accepted 10 April 2013

Abstract. A trial was conducted in 2010 and 2011 wet seasons at Mokwa to evaluate the effects of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation in the management of Striga hermonthica in two maize varieties. Mokwa lies on longitude (090 181N and 050 041E) in the Southern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). It consisted of two maize varieties, Early White Maturity (EWM) and Oba Super II factorially combined with three different stages of land preparation. The data collected includes days to first Striga shoot emergence, Striga shoot count at 9 and 12 WAS, syndrome reaction score, plant height at 3, 6 and 9 WAS and grains yield (Kg/ha). The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were partitioned using least significant different at 5% level of probability. The results indicated that Oba Super II (resistant) variety generally supported less Striga infestation and Striga shoot count comparable to treatments combination of Early White Maturity (Susceptible) variety. Also Oba Super II maize variety planted with incorporation of melon shell two days before ridging significantly had taller plant height than Early White Maturity variety only in 2010 wet season. Generally, Oba Super II (resistant) variety treated with melon shell at different stages of land preparation significantly recorded higher grain yield in 2011 wet season than the Early White Maize variety. Key words: Organic manure, Land preparation, Striga management

1. INTRODUCTION The parasitic witchweed (Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth.) is a major constraint to cereal (Maize, sorghum, millet and upland rice) production in Africa sub-Sahara. It is the most economic important Striga spp. The extent to which it damages its host even before it is visible above ground, is one of the characteristics that make it the most serious of all parasitic weeds. Johnson et al. (1997) showed that parasitization of 17 shoots of Striga per square meter reduced rice grain yield by about 5%. Effective control of Striga has been difficult to achieve through conventional hand or mechanical weeding as the parasite exert its greatest damage before its emergence above ground. The situation is further compounded by increased demographic pressure on land use leading to monocropping. Available literature indicates different methods that are applied on the control of Striga, for example manipulation of sowing date and transplanting (Gbehounou et al., 2004), soaking of host seed in Parkia biglobosa extract (Kolo et al., 2005), and crop rotation (Oswald and Ransom, 2001). Furthermore, the incorporation of green manure cover crop (GMCC) as well as leguminous cover crop residues, as a low input technology in traditional cropping systems, reduces germination of Striga seeds and

produces large quantities of residual biomass for soil improvement and weed suppression (Pesch and Pieterse, 1982; Olaniya et al., 1990). Muriethi et al. (2003) reported that incorporation of GMCC promotes greater yields of maize presumably due to increased N supply to the soil and reduced loss of N by volatilization. Esilaba et al. (2000) reported that combined application of 40 kg N ha-1 and 30 t ha-1 manure (FYM) significantly reduced Striga emergence. The objective of this study therefore, was to determine the influence of time of incorporating melon shell into the soil for Striga hermonthica control under field condition. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was conducted on fields with track history of natural high infestation of Striga hermonthica at Niger State College of Agriculture, Mokwa (090 181N and 500 41E) Teaching and Research Farm situated in Southern Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. The area has an annual rainfall of 1100 1500 mm and temperature range of 28 300C with a relative humidity of 80% in the morning, 40% in the afternoon and later increase to 70% in the evening. The soil is sandy-loam with pH of 6 8. The ridges were manually constructed 75 cm apart with hand hoe on 6th June and 24th July 2010 and 2011 respectively

71

Liman Rabba Muhammad and Mathew Ahmed Incorporation of Melon Shell at Different Stages of Land Preparation in the Management of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth in Maize (Zea mays L.)

after land clearing. The plots consisted of four (4) ridges each 4 m long at 75 cm apart. The seeds were treated with Apron plus (20% W/W thiamethosam, metaloxym and difenoxonzole) just prior to sowing at the rate of one sachet of chemical (10 g) to 3 kg of seed. This was done to prevent the seeds from soil borne diseases and insect pests attack. The treatments were randomly laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD), consisting of two maize varieties:

Early white maturity (EWM) which is susceptible to Striga and Oba Super II which is known to be resistant to Striga, combined with time of incorporating the melon shell into the soil i.e. two days before ridging, during ridging, placement of manure after land preparation as well as no application (control) replicated three times in each year.

Table 1: Striga shoot count as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) 9 WAS 12.7a 9.0b 7.0bc 15.3a 5.0bc 6.0bc 5.7c 4.9c 3.6 2010 12 WAS 8.3 6.7 6.7 8.0 5.3 4.0 4.0 5.3 NS 9 WAS 9.0a 7.7a 8.0a 9.3a 4.3b 5.0b 5.0b 5.0b 2.4 2011 12 WAS 6.7a 7.0a 7.0a 7.7a 4.3b 3.7b 4.3b 4.7b 1.26

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, WAS- week after sowing, NS- not significantly different and LSD- Least significant difference.

Table 2: Number of days to first Striga shoot emergence and number of flowering stage at harvest as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) 2010 53.7a 50.3b 56.3a 51.7a 61.0a 60.3a 60.0a 52.0a 8.3 NDFS 2011 58.0bc 55.3bc 58.3bc 52.0c 69.3a 67.3a 66.7a 61.7b 7.3 2010 14.0a 10.7a 13.3a 13.3a 8.0b 9.7ab 9.3ab 8.0b 4.2 NFSH 2011 15.0a 13.3a 10.0b 15.3a 7.3c 6.3c 7.3c 7.3c 1.9

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, NS- not significantly different, LSD- Least significant difference, NDFS- number of days to first Striga and NFSH- number of flowering stage at harvest.

Table 3: Maize crop reaction score as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) 6 WAS 2.0 1.7 1.0 1.3 1.7 1.0 1.0 1.3 NS 2010 9 WAS 2.0b 2.0b 3.3a 3.7a 2.0b 2.3a 2.7a 2.7a 1.1 6 WAS 1.3 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 NS 2011 9 WAS 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.7 1.2 NS

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, WAS- week after sowing, NS- not significantly different, LSD- Least significant difference,

Three maize seeds were sown per hill at 50 cm x 75 cm on 15th June and 30th July 2010 and 2011 respectively, the plant were thinned to two plant per stand at two weeks after sowing (WAS). Compound fertilizer (NPK 20:10:10) was applied at 3 WAS at the

rate of 60 kg N, 30 kg P and 30 kg K in a single dose since high rates would reduce Striga hermonthica growth. Manual hoe weeding was carried out at three weeks after sowing and hand pulling of weeds other

72

International Journal of Scientific Research in Environmental Sciences (IJSRES), 1(5), pp. 71-77, 2013

than Striga hermonthica was adopted at 5 and 8 WAS in order to avoid damage to Striga shoots. Data were taken on days to Striga shoot emergence, Striga shoot density per m2, number of Striga shoot flowering at harvest, visual maize damage score (on a scale of 1 10, where 1 indicated no plant damage by Striga, 5 was average damage and 10 was severe maize damage) at 6 and 9 WAS, vigour score at 6 and 9 WAS, maize plant height at 3, 6 and 9 WAS and maize grain yield per ha. The data were subjected to analysis using Minitab 14. The treatments compared using the least significant difference at 5% level of probability.

3. RESULTS Early white maturity (EWM) of maize variety planted with incorporation of melon shell two days before ridging and without melon shell application were significantly (p<0.05) higher in Striga shoot count than Oba Super II (resistant) at 9 WAS during the wet season in 2010 while in 2011 wet season at 9 and 12 WAS EWM at all level of treatments significantly (P<0.05) recorded higher Striga shoot count than maize variety Oba Super II (Table 1).

Table 4: Maize stand count per 9m2 as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) Stand Count 2010 13.0 12.0 13.3 11.0 13.3 12.7 12.0 12.7 NS 2011 6.9 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.8 6.8 7.7 7.7 NS

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, NS- not significantly different and LSD- Least significant difference.

Table 5: Plant height of maize influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) 3 WAS 25.0b 25.7b 20.7b 18.7b 39.0a 34.0a 39.0a 45.7a 8.10 2010 6 WAS 42.3c 47.7c 53.7b 47.7c 66.0a 57.0b 58.3b 62.0a 6.40 9 WAS 49.3c 53.0c 58.3b 52.0c 70.7a 62.7b 63.7b 67.3a 6.40 3 WAS 57.9 58.9 63.7 67.8 63.6 71.8 54.5 55.7 NS 2011 6 WAS 165.9 151.1 161.4 165.9 158.9 163.1 156.9 159.1 NS 9 WAS 201.5 203.6 209.2 234.2 236.7 233.7 207.4 207.4 NS

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, WAS-Week after sowing, NS- not significantly different and LSD- Least significant difference.

Table 6: Maize crop vigour score as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) 6 WAS 1.0 1.0 1.7 1.7 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.7 NS 2010 9 WAS 1.3b 1.0b 2.3ab 2.7a 1.0c 1.3b 1.7b 1.7b 0.96 6 WAS 1.3 1.7 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 NS 2011 9 WAS 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.0 1.3 1.1 1.9 1.2 NS

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, WAS- week after sowing, NS- not significantly different, LSD- Least significant difference,

73

Liman Rabba Muhammad and Mathew Ahmed Incorporation of Melon Shell at Different Stages of Land Preparation in the Management of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Although the maize varieties did not significantly (p>0.05) affect the number of days to first Striga shoot emergence, but it was observed that incorporation of melon shell during ridging planted with Early White maturing variety at 2010 and without melon shell application at 2011 significantly (p<0.05) took few number of days to first Striga shoot emergence compared to all other treatments in the sampling periods respectively (Table 2). Likewise Oba Super II (resistant) with incorporation two days before ridging and the control significantly had lower number of flowering Striga at harvest compared with all other treatments in 2010 wet season but in 2011 wet season the Oba Super II (resistant) variety with treatment combinations significantly recorded lower number of flowering Striga than Early white maturing (susceptible) variety throughout the growing period (Table 2). The syndrome reaction of the two maize varieties among various treatments combination were significant at 9 WAS in 2010 wet season (Table 3). Early white maturity and Oba Super II varieties planted with incorporated melon shell two days before ridging and Early white maturity planted with incorporation of melon shell during ridging significantly had lower syndrome reaction damage at 9 WAS in 2010 (Table 3). While in 2011, there was no significant different in syndrome reaction damage. Table 4, showed the stand count of maize as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated

into the soil at different stages of land preparation were not significantly different throughout the growing period in 2010 and 2011 wet season (Table 4). In addition, it was observed that Oba Super II maize variety planted with incorporation of melon shell two days before ridging significantly had taller plant height at 3, 6 and 9 WAS in 2010 wet season compared with Early White maize variety (Table 5). In 2011 wet season, there was no significant difference in maize plant height. The vigour score of Early white maturing variety with no application of melon shell significantly had higher vigorous score compared with all other treatments combination at 9 WAS in 2010 wet season (Table 6). In 2011 wet season at 6 WAS in 2010 there was no significant difference in vigour score (Table 6). There was no significant difference in number of days to 50% tasselling, cob weight and grain yield of maize in 2010 wet season, it was noted that Oba Super II (resistant) variety with incorporation of melon shell two days before ridging significantly produced more cobs than all other treatments (Table 7). However, the Early white maturing maize variety significantly took longer days to 50% tasseling than Oba Super II resistant variety in 2011 wet season (Table 7). However, the Oba Super II maize variety treated with melon shell at different stages of land preparation significantly recorded higher grain yield in 2011 wet season than the Early maize variety (susceptible) (Table 7).

Table 7: Number of days at 50% tassel, cob weight of maize, grain yield of maize and number of cob at harvest as influenced by the effect of melon shell incorporated into the soil at different stages of land preparation at Mokwa during 2010 and 2011 wet season.
Treatment Early white + incorporation two days before ridging Early white + incorporation during ridging Early white + placement of manure after land preparation Early white + no application Oba Super II + incorporation two days before ridging Oba Super II + incorporation during ridging Oba Super II + placement of manure after land preparation Oba Super II + no application LSD (0.05) ND at 50%T 53.3 57.3 53.3 52.0 48.0 49.0 53.0 54.7 NS CWM (Kg/plot) 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.3 1.1 1.0 0.8 1.0 NS 2010 GYM (kg/plot) 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.5 0.3 0.5 0.5 NS NC at Harvest 8.0c 9.7c 9.7c 14.7bc 23.7a 16.0b 17.7b 16.0b 5.37 ND at 50%T 77.3a 76.0a 76.7a 76.7a 49.0c 53.0bc 51.0bc 54.7b 4.00 2011 CWM GYM (Kg/plot) 0.7 1.2bc 0.7 0.6 0.5 1.2 1.1 0.9 0.9 NS 1.2bc 0.9c 1.1c 2.5a 2.1a 2.1a 1.9a 0.70 NC at harvest 24.0 26.3 33.3 32.3 31.0 32.3 32.0 32.3 NS

Mean(s) followed by the same letter (s) within the column are not significantly different at 5% probability, NS- not significantly different and LSD- Least significant difference, NDT- number of days at 50% tassel, CWM- cob weight of maize, GYM- grain yield of maize and NC-number of cob at harvest

74

International Journal of Scientific Research in Environmental Sciences (IJSRES), 1(5), pp. 71-77, 2013

4. DISCUSSIONS The result of this study demonstrate that the susceptible maize variety (Early White maize) consistently supported more Striga shoots and consequently greater severe symptoms of attack than the resistant variety (Oba Super II) with resultant much lower grain yield. The resistant maize variety out-yielded the susceptible variety; this could be attributed to the tolerant nature of the variety as well as increased in soil nitrogen content which has the ability to cause suicidal germination in Striga seed. These findings are in consonance with (Pesch and Pieterse, 1982; Olaniyan et al., 1990) as leguminous covering crop residue also causes suicidal Striga seed germination. Mureithi et al. (2003) reported that incorporation of Mucuna (green manure cover crop) into the soil during land preparation reduces Striga infestation as well as increased grain yield. Because leguminous crops, apart from increasing N in the environment they also produce root exudates which cause suicidal effects to striga. Also Esilaba et al. (2000) reported combined application of 40 kg N ha-1 and 30 t ha-1 manure (FYM) significantly reduced Striga emergence. The outstanding performance of plots incorporated with melon the most of the parameter study is in agreement with the findings of Bair (1990) reported that proper soil fertility management and sustainable agriculture can be achieved with the use of organic waste like melon shell. Paul and Mannan (2006) suggested that the use of organic wastes material can be an effective approach to combat nutrient depletion and promote sustainable crop productivity. The findings also agree with the observation of Olaniyan et al. (1990) who state that the application of agricultural wastes improved soil properties and significantly increased the growth and yield components of maize. He further reported that the effects of agricultural waste were significant on the growth and yield characteristics of maize. Generally, seed weight per plant, 100-seed weight, number of seeds per cob, and grain yield increased under the sole application of agricultural wastes. 5. CONCLUSION Our study showed that the incorporation of melon shell two days before ridging gave maximum yield, therefore farmers can adopt this with the use of resistant variety as an integrated package for Striga management. Practices which focus on recycling agricultural wastes into the soil would contribute to the improvement in the quality of the environment and soil health. The use of organic wastes showed a

promising potential for improving soil fertility and growth and yield performance of maize in the Southern Guinea savanna agro-ecology. REFERENCES Bair W (1990) Characterisation of the environment for sustainable agriculture in the semi- arid tropics. In: Singh RP (ed) Issues, perspectives and prospects in semi arid tropics: proceedings of the first international symposium on natural resources management for a sustainable agriculture, Indian Society of Agronomy, New Delhi. pp 90-128. Esilaba AO, Reda F, Ransom JK, Bayu W, Woldewahid G, Zemicheal B (2000). Integrated nutrient management strategies for soil fertility improvement and Striga control in Northern Ethopia. Africa Crop Science Journal, 8(4): 403 410. Gbehounou G, Adonga A, Hinm JK, Nonfon R (2004). Sowing date or transplanting as a component for integrated Striga hermonthica control in grain cereal crops. Crop protection, 23: 379 386. Johnson DE, Riches CR, Diallo R, Jones MR (1997). Striga on rice in West Africa, crop host and range and the potential of host resistant. Crop Protection 162: 153- 157 Kolo MGM, Usman I, Fadepe AL, Adesina GO, Ibikule GF (2005). Deressing of maize (Zea mays L.) seed with Parkia bigloboss (Jacq) R. Br. extracts to control Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. Journal of Sustainable Tropical Agricultural Research, 13: 81 85. Minitab 14 Statistical Computer Software for Data Analysis. Inc 3081 Enterprise Drive, State College PA 16801-3008, USA, 1993, Release 14 Mureithi JG, Gachene CKK, Ojiein . (2003). The role of green manure legumes in smallholding farming systems in Kenya. In Eilitta, M., Miunga, R., Mureithi, J. G., Sandoral Castro, C. and Szabo, N. (Eds), Proceedings of workshop organized by KARI and CIEPCAIITA. Mombassa, Kenya September 23-26, 2002. Page 57-70. Olaniyan GO, Ogunremi, LT, Iwo A (1990). Highlights of research activities in search for Striga control of the National Cereal Research Institute, Badeggi. Nigeria. In: Towards an integrated control of Striga in Africa. Proceedings of 1st Pan Africa Striga control network (PASCON). General workshop: 11 14 March, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria. Pp. 35 42.

75

Liman Rabba Muhammad and Mathew Ahmed Incorporation of Melon Shell at Different Stages of Land Preparation in the Management of Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Oswald A, Ransom JK., Kroschel J, Saverbon J (2001). Transplanting maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum reduces Striga hermonthica damage. Weed science, 43: 346 353. Paul GC, Mannan MA (2006). Integrated nutrient management in sugarcane to enhance sugar

productivity. In: Proceedings, international symposium on technologies to improve sugar productivity in developing countries. Pesch C, Pieterse AH (1982). Inhibition of germination in Striga by means of urea. Experimentia 38: 559 - 560.

76

International Journal of Scientific Research in Environmental Sciences (IJSRES), 1(5), pp. 71-77, 2013

Mathew Ahmed obtained his Ph.D degree from the University of Nigeria Nsukka in Crop Science (Production option) in 2013. He lectures with Niger State College of Agriculture, Mokwa from 2009 to 2013; Hes the current Zonal Programme Manager of Niger State Agricultural Mechanization and Development Authority (Zone I, Bida) and a part-time lecturer to Federal College of Freshwater and Fisheries Technology, New Bussa. He is a specialist in data analysis and field experimentation. He has published numerous refereed articles in professional journals and conference proceedings.

Liman Rabba Muhammad is a lecturer and Head of Department of Crop Production Technology Department, Niger State College of Agriculture, Mokwa. Presently, He is a Ph.D student of Weed Science at Federal University of Technology, Minna.

77