B. SATHISH KUMAR NAIK* AND USHA C. THOMAS
Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), India
*(e-mail : bukkesathish12@gmail.com)
(Received : 12 March 2024; Accepted : 30 March 2024)
SUMMARY
A field experiment was conducted at Instructional Farm, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from November 2022 to August 2023 to study the influence of row spacing and nitrogen levels on growth and yield attributes of multicut fodder sorghum. The field experiment was laid out in randomized block design with (3 x 3) + 1 treatment, replicated thrice. The treatment combinations included three levels of row spacing (R) (r1– 20 cm, r2– 30 cm, r3– 40 cm) and three levels of nitrogen application (N) (n1– 315 kg/ha, n2-245 kg/ha, n3-175 kg/ha), compared against the control treatment (30 cm row spacing, nitrogen application-315 kg/ha in seven equal splits, and MgSO4-80 kg/ha). Nitrogen was applied in seven equal splits- as basal, 20, and 40 days after sowing and after each cut. The variety used for the study was COFS-31, released from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. The results revealed that control treatment with row spacing (30 cm) and nitrogen dose of 315 kg/ha/y (seven equal splits) along with MgSO4– 80 kg/ha/y proved its superiority by registering higher growth and yield attributes such as plant height, stem girth, leaf stem ratio, green and dry fodder yield. This was at par with row spacing (30 cm) and nitrogen dose of 315 kg/ha/y.
Key words: Multicut fodder sorghum, row spacing, nitrogen application, and magnesium application