GROWTH AND YIELD OF OKRA AS INFLUENCED BY LIVE MULCH IN SAMARU, ZARIA.

Two field experiments were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Institute for Agricultural Research; Ahmadu Bello University Zaria located on latitude 11011'N, longitude 7038'E and 686m above sea level in the Northern Guinea Savannah Ecological Zone of Nigeria in 2010 and 2011 cropping seasons. The objective of the study was to compare the yield of okra grown under different weed management strategies. The experiment consisted of four treatments namely: control, cucumber, watermelon and pumpkin. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomised block design (RCBD) with three replications. From the results so far obtained, pumpkin significantly gave higher mean values in both growth and yield characters measured, whereas the control treatment, significantly gave lower mean values of both growth and yield parameters throughout the period of assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]