EFFECT OF FERTILITY LEVELS ON QUALITY OF MULTI-CUT FORAGE
SORGHUM GENOTYPES
DURGESH KUMAR* AND P. C. CHAPLOT**
Department of Agronomy
Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology,
Udaipur-313 001 (Rajasthan), India
*(e-mail : kumawat90durgesh@gmail.com; **pcchaplot@gmail.com)
(Received : 15 October 2014; Accepted : 6 February 2014)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted on clay loam soils of the Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur (Rajasthan) to study the effect of fertility levels viz., control, 50 per cent recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), 75 per cent RDF and 100 per cent RDF (80 kg N+40 kg P2O5+40 kg K2O/ha ) on quality of multi-cut fodder sorghum genotypes (SPH 1697, SPH 1698, CSH 20 MF, CSH 24 MF and SSG 59-3) during zaid season of 2013. In both the cuttings, genotype SPH 1697 exhibited maximum crude protein, crude fibre and lowest nitrogen free extract, and total digestible nutrient content. While concentration of mineral ash and ether extract was maximum in genotypes SPH 1698, SPH 1697 and CSH 20 MF. Genotype SPH 1697 proved significantly superior in respect to crude protein, crude fibre, mineral ash, ether extract, nitrogen free extract and total digestible nutrient in both the cuttings. Application of 100 per cent RDF significantly increased content and uptake of crude protein, crude fibre, mineral ash and ether extract over lower fertility levels in both the cuts. While application of fertility levels caused significant reduction in TDN and NFE content in dry fodder which were highest in unfertilized control.
Key words: Fertility levels, fodder quality, multi-cut forage sorghum