Effects of Irrigation Level, Plant Density and Nitrogen Doses on Grain Yield and Yield Parameters of Sweet Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench var. saccharatum)

Abstract

Experiments were carried out at Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Agriculture Application and Research Centre, in 2022 and 2023 summer seasons to evaluate the effects of irrigation level, plant density and nitrogen dose on grain yield and yield parameters of sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench var. saccharatum]. Each field trail included thirty-two treatments represent the combinations among four irrigation levels, two planting densities and four nitrogen fertilization doses. A split-split plot design with three replications was used in both seasons, where the four deficit irrigation levels (0%, 33%, 66% and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc)) were arranged in the main plots, while two planting densities (142857 and 285714 plants ha⁻¹) were randomly allocated in the sub plots and the four nitrogen doses (0, 70, 140 and 210 kg ha⁻¹) were randomly distributed in the sub-sub plots. The results showed the three factors and their interactions on grain yield and yield components were found significant. Grain yield increased with increasing irrigation level, plant density, nitrogen doses and their interactions in both years. In the study, maximum grain yield was obtained with all N doses at I₃ in 2022, while it was obtained with N₃ in I₁, I₂ and I₃ in 2023. Grain yield increased with increasing plant density in 2022, it did not interact with nitrogen doses, but they interacted in 2023 and the highest grain yield was determined at N₃ interacting with P₂. In the plant density and irrigation level interactions, the maximum grain yield was obtained from the interaction of D₂ and I₃ in the rainy year 2022, while it was obtained from the interaction of D₂ and I₂ in the dry year 2023.

Keywords

• density
• irrigation level
• nitrogen
• sweet sorghum

References

1. Abadi, M.H.S., Mojadam, M. & Nejad, T.S. (2014). The effect of drought stress and different levels of nitrogen on yield and yield components of sorghum. International Journal of Biosciences, 4(3), 206-212. http://dx.doi.org/10.12692/ijb/4.3.206-212
2. Aksoy, E., Dirim, M.S., Tumsavas, Z., Ozsoy, G. (2001). Occurrence, important physical, chemical properties and classification of soils of Uludag University campus area. Uludag University Research Fund Project, 98/32, 118.
3. Alderfasi, A. A., Selim, M.M., & Alhammad, B.A. (2016). Evaluation of plant densities and various irrigation regimes of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) under low water supply. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2016, 8, 1-11 Published Online January 2016 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jwarp http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2016.81001
4. Allen R.G., Pereira, L.S., Raes, D., & Smith, M. (1998). Crop evapotranspiration: guidelines for computing crop water requirements. United Nations FAO, Irrigation and Drainage, N.Y., Paper No. 56
5. Amiri, M., Mojaddam, M. & Shokouhfar, A. (2014). The effect of nitrogen management on the yield and yield components of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). International Journal of Biosciences 4(1), 272-278.
6. Aydinsakir K., Buyuktas, D., Dinc, N., Erdurmus, C., Bayram, E., & Yegin, A.B. (2021). Yield and bioethanol productivity of sorghum under surface and subsurface drip irrigation. Agricultural Water Management 243(1-13):106452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106452
7. Cai, X.M., Zhang, X., & Wang, D.B. (2011). Land availability for biofuel production. Environmental Science and Technology 45(1):334-9. https://doi.org/10.1021/es103338e
8. Doorenbos J., & Pruitt, W.D. (1977). Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements. Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 24. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome

9. FAOSTAT. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2023). Available online: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC (Accessed 26 July 2023).
10. Inal, I., Yucel, C., Yucel, D. & Hatipoglu, R. (2020). Nutritive value and fodder potential of different sweet sorghum genotypes under mediterranean conditions. Turkish Journal of Field Crops 26(1), 1-7 https://doi.org/10.17557/tjfc.943445
11. Islam, M.R., Garcia, S.C., & Horadagoda, A. (2012). Effects of irrigation and rates and timing of nitrogen fertilizer on dry matter yield, proportions of plant fractions of maize and nutritive value and in vitro gas production characteristics of whole crop maize silage. Animal Feed Science and Technology 172(s 3–4):125–135 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2011.11.013
12. Khelil, M.N., Rejeb, S., Henchi, B., & Destain, J.P. (2013). Effects of irrigation water quality and nitrogen rate on the recovery of 15N fertilizer by sorghum in field study. Communications In Soil Science and Plant Analysis 44(18) https://doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2013.813032
13. Sahu, H., Tomar, G., & Nandeha, N. (2018). Effect of planting density and levels of nitrogen on yield and yield attributes of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) varieties. International Journal of Chemical Studies 2018; 6(1): 2098-2101.
14. Salem, E.M.M. (2015). Response of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, L. Moench) to irrigation, nitrogen and plant density under new valley conditions, Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 65(1), 11-3.
15. Schatz, B.G., Schneiter, A.A., & Gardner, J.E. (1990). Effect of plant density on grain sorghum production in North Dakota. North Dakota Farm Research: 47(5): 15-17.
16. Selim, M.M. (1995). Evaluation of some grain sorghum genotypes grown under different plant densities and levels of nitrogen fertilization. Egyptian Journal of Agronomy, 20, 83-97.
17. Shahrajabian, M.H., Khoshkharam, M., Sun, W. & Cheng, Q. (2021). The influence of increased plant densities and nitrogen fertilizer levels on forage yield, seed yield and qualitative characteristics of forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Thai Journal of Agricultural Science (2020) 53(4), 201−217.
18. Soleymani, A., Shahrajabian, M. H., & Naranjani, L. (2011). The effect of plant density and nitrogen fertilization on yield, yield components and grain protein of grain sorghum. Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.9 (3&4): 244-246.
19. Steel, R. G. D., & Torrie, J. H. (1980). Principles and procedures of statistics, a biometrical approach (No. Ed. 2). McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Ltd.
20. Taha, N.E., Laila, M., Saif, M., Abd El-Latef, F.A. & Ali, M.K. (1999). Response of sweet sorghum to irrigation intervals and nitrogen fertilization. Assiut Journal of Agricultural Science, 30(3): 65-80.
21. Thakur, N.S., Kushwaha, B.B., Sinha, N.K. & Upadhya, S.N. (2009). Effect of plant density and nitrogen levels on growth, yield attributes and yields of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) genotypes. Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development 24(1): 34:38.
22. Turgut, I., Bilgili, U., Duman, A. & Acikgoz, E. (2005). Production of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) increases with increased plant densities and nitrogen fertilizer levels. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B-Soil and Plant, 55:3, 236-240, https://doi.org/10.1080/09064710510028051
23. Wang, Z., Nie, T., Lu, D., Zhang, P., Li, J., Li, F., Zhang, Z., Chen, P., Jiang, L., & Dai, C., Waller, P. M. (2024). Effects of different irrigation management and nitrogen rate on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) growth, yield and soil nitrogen accumulation with drip irrigation. Agronomy 2024, 14, 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14010215
24. Zand, N., Shakiba, M.R., Moghaddam-Vahed., M., & Dabbagh-Mohammadai-nasab, A. (2014). Response of sorghum to nitrogen fertilizer at different plant densities. International Journal of Farming and Allied Sciences Journal-2014-3-1/71-74/31.
25. Zhou, Y., Huang, J., Li, Z., Wu, Y., Zhang, J., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Yield and quality in main and ratoon crops of grain sorghum under different nitrogen rates and planting densities. Frontiers in Plant Science 12:778663. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.778663