Agronomic Performance of Forage Sorghum Genotypes as Affected by Watering Interval in Semi-arid Environment

Abstract

In the latest years, scarcity of rainfall in North Kordofan of Sudan led to the search for irrigation water for cultivation of fodder crops to fill the gap in fodder production, hence the North Kordofan state characterized by a limited water situations. Therefore, efficient use of irrigation water seems to be of vital importance. This situation emphasizes the need for using earlier variety and scientifically sound methods for deciding when and how much to irrigate the crops. A field experiment was carried out during two successive seasons (2014/2015) and (2015/2016), to investigate the effect of ten genotypes and two watering intervals (seven and ten days) on growth and yield of forage sorghum. The treatments were arrange in a split plot design with three replications. The results showed that there were significant differences among watering intervals and genotypes for the most characters measured. The Watering interval of seven days significantly improved growth and forage yield of sorghum. Hybrid Pioneer was superior in plant height, leaf to stem ratio (LSR), fresh and dry forage yield (ton/ha) compared to other genotypes.