Table 4 The spike number (SN), kernel number per spike (KNS), and thousand-kernel weight (TKW) of maize in sole crop and intercrop as affected by cropping system and N management in 2018–2020.

Cropping systems^a	N management system^b	SN 10⁴ (ha⁻¹)			KNS			TKW(g)
Cropping systems^a	N management system^b	2018	2019	2020	2018	2019	2020	2018	2019	2020
Intercrop	IN₁	6.89c	7.45bc	7.06c	564ab	543ab	472a	347abc	362b	360b
	IN₂	6.06cd	6.52c	6.00d	550ab	517ab	452a	334bc	356b	359ab
	IN₃	5.17d	5.84c	5.61d	481c	479c	449a	310c	326c	320ab
Sole crop	SN_1-m	10.18a	10.96a	10.78a	648a	565a	541a	394a	402a	393a
	SN_2-m	9.29a	10.15a	9.39b	572ab	551ab	489a	389a	395a	381a
	SN_3-m	8.27b	9.72ab	9.00b	551ab	499ab	475a	374ab	381ab	370a
Significance (p value)
Cropping system (C)		0.000	0.002	0.000	0.132	0.238	0.301	0.001	0.000	0.006
N management system(N)		0.000	0.192	0.000	0.166	0.061	0.649	0.243	0.018	0.064
C × N		0.946	0.967	0.798	0.769	0.959	0.904	0.877	0.615	0.554

Means with the same lowercase letters in the same column are significantly different at P < 0.05.
^aIntercrop and sole crop means the intercropped maize and sole maize.
^bFor intercropping, N₁, N₂, and N₃ represent N-fertilizer applied at 51, 72, and 93 kg N ha⁻¹ as first top-dressing plus 63, 42, and 21 kg N ha⁻¹ at third top-dressing, respectively. For sole cropping, N₁, N₂ and N₃ represent N-fertilizer applied at 36, 72, and 108 kg N ha⁻¹ as first top-dressing plus 108, 72, and 36 kg N ha⁻¹ at third top-dressing, respectively.

Quick links

Search