Abstract

Field trials were conducted at the Teaching and Research farm of Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi during the 2016 and 2017 planting seasons to study the allelopatic effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa on the yield of 3 local best cultivars of white yam in nematode infested soil. Trials were initiated within a difference of 2 weeks on farmland with proven history of root knot nematode infection. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design and replicated four times. The experiment consisted of six treatments of each cultivar with or without Hibiscus sabdariffa intercrop. The results obtained showed that the greatest number of tubers, tuber length, tuber weight per plant and tuber yield were obtained from Hembakwase cultivar for both the treated and the untreated. Tuber yield obtained from Hembakwase was significantly (P<0.05) higher for both treated and untreated compared to data obtained from Aloshi and Amola cultivars. All the yam cultivars however were susceptible to root-knot nematode with the highest severity observed on untreated Aloshi cultivar (4.33) and the least obtained from treated Hembakwase cultivar (1.0). This study shows that management of Meloidogyne incognita infection on yam fields can be achieved with intercrop of Hibiscus sabdariffa for improved growth, yield and reduced nematode severity.