Abstract
Sudan grass is less sensitive to water shortage and produces large amounts of biomass. For these reasons, it is a promising summer forage crop for arid and semiarid regions where natural pastures are rare and water scarcity limits summer forage production. The aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of cutting date (early and late, for three cuts) and three nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels (35, 70, and 105 kg N/ha/cut) on Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense(Piper) Stapf.). The study was carried out in the experimental farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt, during 2016 and 2017 summer seasons using a split-plot design. The results obtained revealed significant differences between the two cutting dates on growth, forage yield, and quality of Sudan grass. The late cutting date (56 days after sowing DAS and 42 days after the 1stcut) gave the highest values for almost all the growth characters, dry forage yield in addition to total dry yield (TDY) in both seasons. The highest number of shoots/plant (1.911), leaf area/plant (2841.6 cm2), and dry forage weight (g)/plant (76.65 g) were obtained by late cutting (56 DAS) with the application of 105 kg N/ha/cut. The lowest values of these characters were recorded with 35 kg N/ha/cut. Quality parameters were significantly affected by N levels during both seasons, while cutting date significantly affected the protein yield (kg/ha). The interaction result apparently indicated that the highest dry forage yield of Sudan grass (16.26 ton/ha) was achievable at the 1stcut with the application of the highest N level (105 kg N/ha/cut).
Highlights
Sudan grass is a promising summer forage crop essentially in arid and semiarid regions as it is less sensitive to water shortage and produces large amounts of biomass [1]
Treatments consisted of two cutting dates and three nitrogen levels (35, 70, and 105 kg N/ ha/cut) using a Sudan grass cultivar Giza-2. e early cutting date in the 1st cut was taken at 49 DAS, and the late cutting was taken at 56 DAS. e early and late cutting dates in the 2nd cut were taken after 35 and 42 days from the 1st cut, and the same schedule was done for the 3rd cut, respectively. e experiments were laid out in a split plot design with three replications, where cutting dates were assigned to the main plots and nitrogen fertilizer levels occupied the sub plots. e preceding crop was faba bean (Vicia faba L.) during both seasons
Results clearly indicated that the early cutting date was in favor of obtaining higher number of shoots per plant compared to late cutting in both seasons. e present finding suggests that the earlier cutting date of Sudan grass coincides with higher tillering, which may stimulate more number of shoots per plant, respectively. ese results are comparable to those obtained by Sowinski and Szydełko [18], uranira et al [9], and Ibrahim et al [5]
Summary
Sudan grass is a promising summer forage crop essentially in arid and semiarid regions as it is less sensitive to water shortage and produces large amounts of biomass [1]. Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf.) stands as an important short-term annual and summer season forage crop widely grown in Egypt to balance the desperate demands by the livestock industry. It is recognized among the most satisfactory summer forage resources cultivated under irrigation system in many of the arid and semiarid parts of the country [5]. E green foliage of Sudan grass is succulent, very palatable, and nutritious feed for dairy cattle It represents an ideal bulky feed crop due to its dense vegetative growth and International Journal of Agronomy high dry yield. E present investigation was carried out to evaluate the performance of Sudan grass to cutting dates and nitrogen fertilizer levels under the semiarid agroclimatic conditions of El-Sharkia Governorate in Egypt
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