Effect of Seeding Method and Pre-emergence Herbicides on Plant Growth and the Production of Sorghum × Sudangrass Hybrid

Abstract

Jeong Sung Jung, Ki-Won Lee, Ki Choon Choi, Hee Jung Ji, Hyung Soo Park, Won Ho Kim, Young-Jin Kim,Sang Hak Lee and Sang-Hoon Lee*National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Cheonan 330-801, KoreaABSTRACTThe following experiments were used to evaluate the effect of seeding method and pre-emergence herbicides on weed control and the production of the sorghum×sudangrass[sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] hybrid under field and in vitro conditions. Under the in vitro condition, we evaluated how different kinds of herbicides affect the rate of seed germination and the growth of early seedlings in the sorghum×sudangrass hybrid treated with herbicides. Simazine, alachlor, and methabenzthiazuron were used, and their concentration levels were 0%, 40%, 70%, and 100%. The germination ratio of the seeds was reduced by the application of simazine, methabenzthiazuron, and alachlor compared with the control(distilled water). The alachlor application severely decreased the sorghum germination ratio. However, seed germination was not greatly influenced by the concentration level of the herbicides. Root and shoot length were increased in the following order: control>simazine>methabenzthiazuron>alachlor. Overall, alachlor significantly reduced root length more than shoot length. The differential tolerance of the sorghum×sudangrass hybrid to pre-emergence herbicides by seeding method was then tested under the field condition. The plants were severely injured by the alachlor application, leading to a great reduction in the number of stems. However, for the simazine and methabenzthiazuron applications the number of stems lost was slightly lower than it was for the alachlor and simazine+alachlor applications. In the seeding method, drilling was more effective in reducing herbicide injury than broadcasting. All of the herbicides effectively controlled weeds. The simazine and methabenzthiazuron applications showed a significantly higher dry matter(DM) yield. However, the alachlor and simazine+alachlor applications severely reduced the DM yield. This result suggests that the alachlor application has a significant effect on plant production. Similarly, the total digestible nutrient(TDN) yield was greatly reduced by the alachlor and simazine+alachlor applications. From the results presented above, we concluded that the yield of DM was the highest for broadcasting with no herbicide. and drilling was the most-effective way to reduce herbicide injury. The simazine application was the most-effective herbicide, showing the highest forage yield and TDN yield.(Key words :Pre-mergence herbicide, Sorghum×sudangrass hybrid, Seeding method, Production, Plant growth)