Effect of Certain Fertilizers and Cuts on Growth, Yield and Nutritive Value of Rhodes Gras (Chloris gayana L. Knuth.).

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2009/2010 season in the Demonstration Farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University of Science and Technology at Shambat, to study the effect of different fertilizers (urea, farmyard and chicken manure) and cuts on quality and quantity of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana L. Kunth.) The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) and Two Factors with three replications. The fertilizer treatments used in this study were urea (U) (100kgN/ha), farmyard manure (FYM) (5ton/ha), chicken manure (CHM) (3ton/ha), combinations between their (U+FYM, U+CHM, FYM+CHM, and U+FTM+CHM) and control (Without fertilization) with 8 cuts. Growth and yield parameters studied were: plant height (cm), number of leaves per plant, plant density (plant/m²), leaf area index, leaf to stem ratio, fresh and dry yield (ton/ha). Proximate analysis includes crude protein, crude fiber, ash% and minerals (N, P, K, Na, Ca and Mg). The results revealed that all parameters studied were significantly affected by cuts except crude fiber, ash% and phosphorus. On the other hand, all parameters studied were not affected by fertilizers except plant density, fresh and dry yield characters. However, all parameters were not affected by the interactions. The highest fresh and dry yield of 45.24 and 14.05 (ton/ha) were obtained at the 1st and 4th cuts within {FYM+CHM} and CHM, respectively. The lowest yields of 7.14 and 3.68 (ton/ha) were obtained at the 8th and 5th cuts from urea and control respectively.