**Abstract**

The oil palm (*Elaeis guineensis* Jacq), is a crop of tremendous food, nutrition and economic importance in the tropics. Weather variability and extremes profoundly impact the establishment, survival and productivity of oil palm on the field. Alleys of palm trees in plantation are cropped with arables during early years following field establishment. Studies were conducted at the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City, Nigeria. Oil palm seedlings responded to shading, irrigation and AMF inoculation via enhanced water use efficiency, growth vigor and reduced seedling mortality in the nursery during dry season. Age of oil palm and intercrops of Cassava, Maize and Pepper affected mixture productivity and competitive functions in alleys of 2 to 6 years old oil palm fields. Fertilizers (inorganic/organic) promoted agronomic and physiological efficiencies of N use by alley species. Sole crops had higher N use efficiency compared with the intercrops across the fertilizers.

**Keywords:** Nursery, shade, irrigation, seedling survival, intercropping, alley, fertilizer, growth resources, competition, use efficiency, rainforest
