Abstract:
A major problem encountered in tropical agriculture is the reduced soil fertility due to monoculture. Therefore, there
is a need to improve productivity of soil by using environmental friendly methods. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major
staple food in the tropics and green gram (Vigna radiata L. variety; Ml 5) is a major legume which is intercropping with
rice. Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is a popular vegetable with edible root and leaves. Present study was focused on
investigating the effect of green gram and radish, on vegetative growth of improved rice varieties AT 401 and AT 402
under in vitroconditions. Seeds of two rice varieties, green gram and radish were cultured in Murashige and Skoog
basal Medium (MS). Treatments were; AT 401 with green gram, AT 401 with Radish, AT 402 with green gram, AT 401
with radish, green gram with radish, sole AT 401, sole AT 402, sole green gram and sole radish. Completely
Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates was used. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Student
Newman-Kuells Means Separation. Height, weight of each plant and number of tillers in rice varieties were recorded
30 days after planting. Vegetative growth of rice varieties AT 401 and AT 402 were significantly enhanced by
intercropping with radish when comparing to the sole AT 401 and sole AT 402 showing, mean plant weight (0.3g,
0.3 lg) and number of tillers (5, 7) respectively. It was reduced with green gram under in vitroconditions displaying
m eanplantw eight(0.2g,0.08g)andnum beroftillers(l, 1), respectively.
