The objective of this study was to quantify the growth, development, and yield of cassava and maize in different plant spacings in monocropping and intercropping systems, considering two sowing dates of maize. The experiment was carried out in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. The cassava variety RS 13 was planted on September 27, 2005. The maize variety BRS Missões was sown on two dates: November 2, 2005 and November 29, 2005. The experimental design was a complete randomized blocks with 12 treatments and three replications. Growth (plant height and leaf area), development (phyllochron, final leaf number and duration of developmental phases), and yield parameters of both crops were measured. Thermal accumulation (assuming a base temperature of 14 ºC for cassava and 10 ºC for maize) of some developmental phases and the phyllochron were calculated. Growth and development were not affected by plant spacing in both monocropping and intercropping. The highest land use efficiency was obtained by intercropping cassava and maize, with cassava planted in a double row spacing of 1.6 x 0.5 x 0.6 m and maize in a single row spaced 0.8 x 0.21m or two rows of maize spaced 0.4 x 0.42m between the double rows of cassava, with maize sown on cassava emergence.
plant distribution; plant competition; thermal accumulation; phyllochron; leaf emergence
