The maize/gliricidia intercropping is known to control weeds. The aim of this work was to carry out a growth analysis of maize intercropped with gliricidia, to better evaluate the weed control. The double-hybrid AG 1051 was used and the crop was managed with three weed control procedures: (a) no-weeding; (b) two manual-weedings (at 20 and 40 days after seeding); and (c) maize intercropped with gliricidia, whose seeds were evenly spread by hand between maize rows just after maize sowing, using 25 seeds m-2. The experiment was a randomized complete block design, arranged in split-plots with eight replications. Weed control was applied to the plots, with the subplots consisting of ten plant samplings to evaluate leaf area and shoot dry matter yield. Maize shoot samplings were collected every seven days, 14 days after sowing. The control of weeds with two weedings resulted in higher values in area and leaf dry matter, as well as in total plant dry matter. Regarding these traits, the plants of the intercropped plots showed intermediate behavior between plants of weeded plots and plants of non-weeded plots. Therefore, weeds reduce the growth of maize while gliricidia probably partially controls the weeds, benefiting maize. There were no differences between treatments for weed control regarding absolute growth rates and relative growth rates, specific leaf area, and net assimilation rate. The highest leaf area ratio of maize was observed with gliricidia intercropping.
Zea mays; Gliricidia sepium; green corn; grain yield
