STUDIES ON ESP AND NITROGEN LEVELS AND THEIR INTERACTION
EFFECT ON FORAGE SORGHUM YIELD, PROTEIN AND
NUTRIENT UPTAKE
NIRANJAN SINGH AND S. K. SHARMA
Department of Soil Science
CCS Haryana Agricultural University
Hisar-125 004 (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : nnirajan1234@rediffmail.com)
(Received : 25 July 2015; Accepted : 23 September 2015)
SUMMARY
The present investigation was carried out in the Department of Soil Science, CCSHAU, Hisar during kharif season in screen house. The experiment was conducted on four ESP levels (control, 15, 30 and 45) soil and four N levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg/ha) indicated that overall dry matter yield of forage sorghum decreased with increasing ESP levels and increased with increasing N levels. The interaction effect of ESP levels and nitrogen levels on dry matter yield of forage sorghum was found significant. At highest level of ESP (45) the dry matter yield increased with the increasing nitrogen level in the tune of 12.30, 21.91 and 34.40 per cent as compared to N control at 40, 80 and 120 kg/ha, respectively. The plant height and protein content in sorghum decreased with increasing ESP levels and increased with increasing N levels. The overall uptake of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na and S by forage sorghum crop decreased with increasing ESP levels and increased with increasing N levels. A significant interactive effect of ESP and N levels on nutrient uptake by sorghum crop was observed. The overall uptake of micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe) by forage sorghum crop decreased with increasing ESP levels and increased with increasing N levels. A significant interaction effect of ESP and N levels on micronutrients uptake by sorghum crop was observed. The soil pH decreased at harvest of sorghum irrespective of ESP levels, whereas no clear trend was observed on the soil EC. The water soluble calcium increased slightly in post-harvest soil samples as compared to initial calcium status. Exchangeable Na content in the soil increased with the increasing ESP levels. The exchangeable Na content was higher in initial soil samples as compared to post-harvest soil samples.
Key words:ESP, nitrogen, nutrients uptake, dry matter yield, protein content, sorghum