Abstract
The success of an intercropping system depends largely on the choice of crop species, their compatibility and the various management practices, including the time of sowing. Relative sowing time variations in sweet maize/ water melon intercropping system was examined in the 2022 and 2023 cropping seasons. The experiments were conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Akwa Ibom State University Obio Akpa campus, between March, 2022 and August, 2023. Maize was either sown simultaneously on the same day with water melon or 2, 4 or 6 weeks before or after water melon. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated three times. Results indicated significant effects of the cropping system and the relative time of sowing on the component crops. The growth and yield of sweet maize and water melon were significantly decreased due to the intercropping system. Generally, the yield of component crops increased when sown earlier, but decreased when sown later than the component sown earlier. Sweet maize had better competitive ability over water melon in this arrangement; when water melon was sown later than 2 weeks after maize, it was smothered and yielded nothing. Optimum productivity of the system was however achieved when sweet maize and water melon were sown simultaneously on the same day.