Compatibility of variety and planting pattern of Maize (Zea mays) in early Ganitri (Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb.) based agroforestry in dry land

Abstract

Agroforestry in dry-land is an effort to increase land productivity and to support food security program. Practicing the proper agroforestry in the early age is very essential not only to optimize the annual crop yield but also giving benefit to the tree growth. Ganitri (Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb.) is a tree species that produce beads with high economic value for religious purpose in Southeast Asia and India. Meanwhile, maize is one of staple food throughout Southeast Asia which support food security program. This research aimed to discover the suitable maize variety and planting pattern for early agroforestry in order to get optimum yield and able to support ganitri growth as the main tree. Randomized block design with split plot design was conducted with 2 factors and 3 replications. The main plot was maize variety (single cob and double cobs) and the sub-plot was the planting pattern (two rows and three rows of maize in ganitri alleys). The hypothesis of this research was maize varieties and planting pattern in ganitri based agroforestry had influence on maize production and the growth of ganitri. The result shows that interaction between maize variety and planting pattern have significant effect on the average height of maize in the early and end of growth, nevertheless it does not give any significant response on the early growth of ganitri except for the branch number. The utilization of double cobs variety with three rows of maize in between trees gave higher yield, 4.55 t ha−1 dry kernels in total. This planting pattern has the potency to be applied in order to optimize the land-use on early ganitri-based agroforestry in dry land.