Productivity and Water use Efficiency of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) Under Some Soil and Water Management Practices in Eritrea

Medhanie Mehrteab, Woldeselassie Ogbazghi and Balwan Singh*

Department of Land Resources and Environment Hamelmalo Agricultural College, Hamelmalo, Eritrea

*Corresponding Author:Balwan Singh Department of Land Resources and Environment Hamelmalo Agricultural College, Hamelmalo, Eritrea.

Received: December 14, 2022; Published: February 20, 2023

Abstract

High rainfall intensities, steep slopes, shallow soils and poor ground cover result in runoff and soil loss; moreover non implementation of soil and water conservation techniques and use of animal dung for energy needs, come in the way to achieve food security in Eritrea. To address these factors the present experiment was conducted in model integrated watershed at Hamelmalo Agricultural College, Eritrea with the objectives to study the effect of tillage, farmyard manure (FYM) and mulch on productivity, growth and water use efficiency (WUE) of sorghum under rain fed conditions. A split-split plot experimental design was chosen with tillage (conventional tillage CT, reduced tillage RT and no-tillage NT) as main plot, FYM (0, 5, 10, 15 t ha-1) as sub-plot and mulch (0, 4 t ha-1) as sub-sub-plot with three replications. FYM and mulch showed significant effect on grain yield, stover yield, total biomass, Harvest Index (HI), 1000 grain weight and WUE, whereas the effect of tillage was non-significant on grain yield and growth parameters. Highest WUE (14.1 kg ha-1 mm-1) was recorded in mulched no tillage plot with 15 t ha-1 FYM application. Grain yield was maximum (5363.0 kg ha-1) with 15 t ha-1 of FYM application in mulched plots and minimum (2888.9 kg ha-1) with 0 t FYM in non-mulched plots both in RT. Grain yield and WUE were positively correlated (R2 = 0.572). Pearson correlation matrix showed that grain yield, total biomass and HI were positively correlated with plant height, stover yield, WUE and 1000 grain weight, however there existed negative correlation with root length density at 80-100cm.

Keywords:Farmyard Manure; Mulch; Tillage; Water Use; Water Use Efficiency; Yield; Sorghum; Root Length Density

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Citation

Citation: Balwan Singh., et al. “Productivity and Water use Efficiency of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) Under Some Soil and Water Management Practices in Eritrea". Acta Scientific Agriculture 7.3 (2023): 14-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Balwan Singh., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.