INFLUENCE OF MONOCROPPING AND INTERCROPPING SYSTEMS BETWEEN PARA RUBBER AND OIL PALM PLANTATION ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF PHLAI

A study was conducted on the effects of spacing of intercropping system of planting Phlai (Zingiber cassumunar), between the 4-5 year-old RRIT 251 Para rubber and oil palm plantations, and mono cropping. The research focusing on observations of rhizomes’s height, germination, size, weight and yield of Phlai which was cultivated at Sithibhon Krisdagara Research Station, Prachuapkhirikhan Province in 2009-2011. The intercropping system between Phlai and Para rubber displayed the most significant difference at 3 and 6 months after planting. The measurements were height of stem (66.45 and 90.06 cm); size of rhizome (width (11.72 cm), length (20.91 cm) and average (16.32 cm); weight of rhizome (0.28 kg) and yield (17,611.25 kg ha^-1), respectively. The mono cropping and the intercropping with oil palms showed the least rhizomes size (width (8.01 cm); length (13.83 cm) and average (10.92 cm), weight of rhizome (0.10 kg) and yield (4077.5 kg ha^-1), respectively. Both the mono cropping and intercropping systems used the same spacing at 25×50, 50×50, 25×75, 50×75 and 75× cm did not affect the germination percentage and showed the same characters. Furthermore there was no interaction between the cultivated Phlai system and spacing on the same characters.