EVALUATION OF SWEET SORGHUM GENOTYPES FOR FODDER YIELD AND QUALITY UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF NPK
M. SHANTI*, R.SUSHEELA, A. V. UMAKANTH1, M. ANURADHA AND T. SHASHIKALA
AICRP on Forage Crops & Utilization,
ARI, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad (Telangana), India
*(e-mail : shantigoka@yahoo.com)
(Received : 7 January 2017; Accepted : 11 February 2017)
SUMMARY
Sweet sorghums are high energy crops with better growth and yield than fodder sorghums and corn. These are more palatable owing to their sweetness and highly preferred by livestock. Besides, bio-fuel generation these are gaining popularity as fodder crops. Four states released genotypes of sweet sorghum were tested at different levels of nitrogen for green fodder yield and fodder quality. SSV84, CSV19SS, CSV24SS and CSH22SS were grown during kharif 2013 and 2014. The study revealed that CSV19SS performed better than all genotypes tested in terms of green fodder yield at 50 per cent flowering as well as at physiological maturity yielding 41.5 and 44.36 t/ha, respectively. At flowering, the yield responses were only up to 100 kg N/ha. The fodder crude protein per cent was higher at flowering stage (10.05%) compared to physiological maturity (7.96%), while fibre followed a reverse trend. At physiological maturity, the response was 130 kg GFY per kg of N applied at N2, while it was 85 kg per kg N at N3 at maturity. This indicated more N use efficiency at lower N levels and viceversa. Crude protein also increased significantly from 100 to 120 kg N/ha. Among all genotypes tested, CSV19SS proved superior in terms of fodder yield and quality and hence could be utilized as ideal fodder.
Key words: Sweet sorghum genotypes, fodder yield, quality, N levels