Abstract
In Tanqua Abergelle, where the study has conducted, application of fertilizer particularly nitrogen is done once in either of the crop growth stages. To this fact, it is known that nitrogen is an easy going chemical fertilizer that can simply undertake nitrification and be washed away by heavy rainfall without meeting the required objectives. Not only this but also, the sensitive fertilizer requirement of the crop growth stage is not known which this varies even from crop to crop. Hence, the objective of this study was to improve the nitrogen utilization efficiency of sorghum by split application of nitrogen there by obtaining higher yields while simultaneously identifying the best time of fertilizer application. The research was undertaken in Abergelle agricultural research center testing site (Mearey). There were seven treatments replicated three times and for doing so, randomized complete block design was used. Split application of nitrogen at different growth stages of sorghum didn’t brought a statistically significant difference in plant height, panicle length, biomass yield and thousand seed weight. Moreover, application of nitrogen at initial, development, mid, Initial Dev, Initial Mid and Development Mid were statistically the same in grain yield. However, there was statistically significant difference (p<0.05) in yield between application of nitrogen at development growth stage (application at once) and application of nitrogen at the three growth stages (Initial, Development and Mid) in splitting form. Application of nitrogen during development growth stage provides the highest grain yield (3.2 t/ha) followed by initial (3.1 t/ha) and initial mid (2.98 t/ha). The lowest grain yield was obtained in Initial, Development and Mid growth stages (2.4 t/ha) i.e., with application of the same amount of nitrogen during initial, development and mid growth stages in split form. Even though, sorghum (Meko1) grain yield poorly responds to spilt application of nitrogen, further multiple years’ research data is needed to reach at strong conclusions.
Highlights
The large need of plants for nitrogen and the limited ability of soils to supply available nitrogen cause nitrogen to be the most limiting nutrient for crop production on the globe [1]
The growth stage of crops at which fertilizer is applied determines the nitrogen use efficiency; the response can vary by genotype
Luxuriant application of nitrogen fertilizer at sowing increases the emergence of broad leaf weeds, thereby the labor requirements for hand weeding, split application of nitrogen is considered as more economical both in terms of weed management and nitrogen use efficiency for optimizing grain yield [5]
Summary
The large need of plants for nitrogen and the limited ability of soils to supply available nitrogen cause nitrogen to be the most limiting nutrient for crop production on the globe [1]. Worldwide interest associated with increasing cereal grain protein has added an attention on improving the utilization of nitrogen in cereals [2]. The concern of ground water contamination, cost of manufacturing and distribution has pressurized farmers to use nitrogen more efficiently [3]. Proper nitrogen application time and rates are critical to meet crop needs and indicate considerable opportunities for improving nitrogen use efficiency [4]. The growth stage of crops at which fertilizer is applied determines the nitrogen use efficiency; the response can vary by genotype. Luxuriant application of nitrogen fertilizer at sowing increases the emergence of broad leaf weeds, thereby the labor requirements for hand weeding, split application of nitrogen is considered as more economical both in terms of weed management and nitrogen use efficiency for optimizing grain yield [5]
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