Use of Supplementary Irrigation for Improvement of Growth and Yield of Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Monech] in North Darfur State

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in two consecutive seasons
(2006 and 2007) in Al-Fashir University Farm in North Darfur State to
investigate the impact of supplementary irrigation at three available water
depletion levels (AWDL); namely, 25%, 50% and 75% on growth and yield
of two sorghum varieties (Wad Ahmed and Tabat) grown on a fine loamy,
mixed isohyperthermic Typic Haplocambid. The experimental design was a
split-plot design with four replicates. Irrigation treatments were designated
the main plots and varieties the subplots. In both seasons, Wad Ahmed
variety was significantly better than Tabat in germination percentage, plant
height, leaf area index and number of heads. For the two seasons, the mean
plant height, leave area index and number of heads ranged from 147.0 to
173.5 cm, 3.3 to 7.4 and 77 to 158, respectively. In the two successive
seasons, the mean dry matter yield was 11.2 and 12.8 ton/ha for Wad
Ahmed and 7.9 and 9.9 ton/ha for Tabat. In both seasons, the mean thousand
grain weight and grain yield ranged from 26.0 to 29.59 g and from 6.2 to 9.4
ton/ha. Wad Ahmed gave significantly (P = 0.05) greater yield than Tabat in
the first season, but the difference was not significant in the second season.
Furthermore, in most cases, application of water at 25% AWDL gave better
growth and yield than at 50% or 75%. However, the impact of AWDL was
not significant because of the random variation of occurrence and quantity
of rainfall. The Experiment showed that supplementary irrigation, using
harvested water, offers a great potential for improving crop production in
North Darfur State.