Evaluation of growth parameters and forage yield of Sugar Graze and Jumbo Plus sorghum hybrids under three different spacings during the maha season in the dry zone of Sri Lanka

Abstract

A field experiment to evaluate the growth parameters and fodder yields of Sugar Graze and Jumbo Plus under occasional irrigation was conducted at 3 different plant spacings (30 × 15, 30 × 45 and 30 × 60 cm) on a red-yellow latosol in the dry zone of Sri Lanka from August 2015 to January 2016. The design was a randomized block with 3 replications. Initial harvesting of fodder was done 60 days after planting and 2 ratoon yields were assessed at successive 60-day intervals. Plant spacing was inversely related (P<0.05) to dry matter (DM) yield with the narrowest spacing (30 × 15 cm) producing yields of 14.1 t DM/ha for Sugar Graze and 12.6 t DM/ha for Jumbo Plus at the initial harvest. Plant spacing also influenced leaf area, stem girth, root length and plant height in the initial harvest. Sugar Graze produced higher yields than Jumbo Plus at the initial and second ratoon harvests. Yields from ratoon crops were about 30% of those for the initial harvest. Further studies are needed to determine how these findings apply under the low-rainfall conditions of the yala season, and chemical analyses and animal feeding studies would provide valuable information on the nutritional value of the different forages.

Viability of Forage Sorghum Integration in Oil Palm Planting Area for Production of Livestock Fodder

“…Results of the study in Lahad Datu indicated that higher DM yield of forage sorghum compared to other locations. The DM of fodder yield was a little bit higher than reported by Meena et al (2020) and Gnanagobal and Sinniah (2018). Meena et al (2020) reported that Sugargraze produced fresh and DM yields of 56.37 t ha -1 and 15.13 t ha -1 , respectively.…”

Evaluation of growth and yield performances of Napier grass cultivar pakchong-1 under different spacial patterns in the Kilinochchi district, Sri Lanka

“…Still, some problems need to be addressed concerning the feed for livestock in Sri Lanka (Pushparajah and Sinniah, 2018a). Especially, the availability of forage crop fields amongst all other agricultural fields as farmers so concerned about the cultivation of cereals and industrial crops (Gnanagobal and Sinniah, 2018). One of the reasons for the lesser dairy productivity of livestock in Sri Lanka could be the lack of quality forages and their availability.…”