Field trials were conducted in the early cropping seasons of 2016 and 2017 at
the Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta (07? 20? N, 3? 23? E 159 m above sea level) in the forest-savanna
transition zone of south-western Nigeria to evaluate the response of mango
ginger to plant population and different weed control methods. Treatments
were laid out in a randomized complete block design with a split-plot
arrangement and replicated three times. The main plot consisted of two plant
populations: 444,444 plants/ha and 250,000 plants/ha, while the sub-plots
consisted of ten weed control methods. The collected data on growth and
yield of mango ginger plant, and weed biomass were subjected to analysis of
variance (ANOVA) and the means of the treatments were separated using the
least significant difference (LSD at p ? 0.05). Planting mango ginger at
444,444 plants/ha resulted in a 43.1% increase in rhizome yield compared to
250,000 plants/ha. Different weed control methods gave significantly higher
crop vigor score, yield and yield components than the weedy check. Relative
to the highest value in both years, uncontrolled weed infestation resulted
in a 91.4% reduction in rhizome yield. There was a 60.7% increase in mango
ginger rhizome yield when post-emergence weed control followed pre-emergence
weed control. Our study has revealed that mango ginger, as a perennial crop
with initially slow growth, requires a weed-free period beyond the first 12
weeks after planting (WAP) for acceptable weed control and optimum rhizome
yield. Hence, a pre-emergence application of oxyfluorfen at a dosage of 0.24
kg a.iha-1 and a post-emergence hoe weeding are recommended.