Effect of different Nitrogen Levels on Yield and Quality of Forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench cv. Abusabien)

Abstract

The present study was conducted at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Studies, University of Kordofan, Elobeid, Sudan. To evaluate the effect of different nitrogen fertilizer levels on growth, yield and quality of Sorghum forage (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench. cv Abusabien). The treatments consisted of four levels of nitrogen: control, 43, 86 and 120 kg N/ha (0N, 1N, 2N and 3N). The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five replications. The parameters measured were: plant population, plant height (cm), number of leaves/plant, fresh weight (ton/ha), dry weight (ton/ha), crude protein (%) content, fat (%) content, fiber (%) content, ash (%) content and carbohydrates (%) content. the results revealed that there were significant differences among the treatments in most characters under study. Nitrogen fertilizer resulted in an increase in growth attributes as well as forage yield. Nitrogen fertilizer dose (120 kg N/ha) produced higher fresh and dry forage at harvest compared to the other treatments. Also the results showed that nitrogen fertilizer significantly increased the percentage (%) content of crude protein, fat, ash and carbohydrates while decreased fiber percentage (%) concentration compared to the control. The treatment 120 kg N/ha (3N) had highest values of protein (13.68), fat (2.04), ash (12.18) (%) content, while the lowest values (9.73, 1.32 and 10.07) % content respectively, were obtained in the control. Then, based on these findings we recommended that to obtain high growth, forage yield and quality from sorghum forage Abu-Sabeen, nitrogen at the level of (120 kg/ha ) should be applied.