The forage and grain yield of sorghum and maize as affected by soil moisture conservation, lodging and harvesting losses.

Abstract

The effects of early ploughing (before the start of the dry season) and late ploughing on the grain and DM yields of a forage maize and cold-tolerant forage and grain sorghum crops are reported. It appeared that on a shallow soil no significant effects on crop production could be shown, but on a deep soil with good water-holding capacity, crop yields were increased considerably by reducing soil moisture evaporation in the dry period prior to the growing season. In DM yield forage sorghum outyielded maize, a difference which was accentuated when mechanized harvesting systems were used in lodged crops. Forage sorghum proved to be more lodging-resistant than maize but, even when lodged, was harvestable without too much difficulty. The use of small-plot maize yield trials is considered to have limited applicability to mechanized harvesting systems when presently available Kenyan maize hybrids are used. Lodging was the major limiting field factor for the harvesting of heavy maize crops. The highest net yields recorded for maize and sorghum were 12.0 and 23.7 t DM/ha, resp. The higher yield of sorghum was probably not due to better drought resistance but to lower lodging susceptibility and a longer growing period. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)