Effect of Dates and Methods of Sowing with and without Hydropriming on Growth,Phenology and Yield of Sorghum under Semi Arid Conditions of Eritrea

A study was carried out at the research farm of Hamelmalo Agricultural College during summer 2015 to study the effect of dates and methods of sowing with and without hydro-priming on growth,development and yield of sorghum.The experiment consisted of 2 factors-three dates of sowing viz.D0(Sowing before the onset of first summer rain,June 30),D1(Sowing with the onset of first summer rains,July 7)and D2(Sowing after the onset of summer rains,July 14)and three methods of sowing viz.SP(Direct sowing with hydro seed priming),TR(Transplanting)and DS(Direct sowing without hydro seed priming).The experiment was conducted in split plot design with 4 replications by keeping dates of sowing in the main plots and methods of sowing in the sub plots.The data on growth parameters,crop phenology,yield components and yield were recorded.The data were analysed using GENSTAT software and inferences were drawn by using LSD at 5%level of significance.Sowing methods significantly affected leaf area and leaf area index but sowing dates and their interaction with sowing methods did not show significant difference.Stand count,plant height,phenological parameters,thousand grain weight,grain and biomass yield were significantly affected by the sowing dates and methods but no significant difference in their interaction on all the parameters except in stand count and phenological parameters.Sowing before the onset of first summer rains(D0)resulted in significantly highest grain yield.Among the sowing methods,transplanting resulted in significantly higher grain yield seconded by direct sowing with hydro seed priming.Transplanting is less profitable and practicable as it is more laborious and difficult to apply in larger areas.

Evaluation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) Landraces for Drought Tolerance Using Morphological and Yield Characters under Rainfed Conditions of Sub Region Hagaz, Eritrea

Sorghum is an important food crop in Eritrea where it is widely grown in the mid and low lands,of semi-arid regions.Eritrea being the center of ori­gin of sorghum,a large variability exist in its landraces being grown by the farmers since generations.In order to improve the productivity of sorghum under moisture stress conditions,it is imperative to evaluate these landraces for drought tolerant characteristics and their use for further crop improve­ment programmes.Therefore,a field study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications to estimate the extent of genetic variability of 20 sorghum genotypes for moisture stress tolerance using various morphological,phenological,yield and yield related parame­ters under rainfed conditions at Hagaz Research Station.Significant differ­ence was observed for almost all the characters in the individual analysis of variance suggesting that these sorghum accessions were highly variable.Accessions EG 537,EG 1257,EG 849,EG 791,EG 783 and EG 813 showed promising results for post flowering drought tolerance,grain yield and stay green traits.Higher PCV and GCV were also obtained in parame­ters like plant height,leaf area,biomass,peduncle exertion,panicle length,and grain yield and panicle weight.The genotypes also exhibited varying degrees of heritability estimates.Characters such as plant height,panicle length,days to flowering and maturity showed higher heritability.Cluster analysis revealed that sorghum landraces were grouped on the basis of their morphological traits and geographical sites.77.3%of the total variation of sorghum landraces was contributed by the first four principal components analysis having Eigen value>1.Overall,the current study confirmed that EG 537,EG 849,EG 1257,EG 791,and EG 813 are drought tolerant sor­ghum landraces during post flowering stage.