Growth and Forage Yield of Pearl Millet as Influenced by Cutting Date and Nitrogen Fertilization

Abstract

This investigation was conducted at the, Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt during 2016 and 2017 summer seasons to study the growth and forage yield of Pearl millet. The experiment was arranged in a split plot design with three replications. The treatments consisted of two cutting dates [early at 56 days after sowing (DAS), and late at 63 DAS for the 1 st cut, and after 35 and 42 days from the 1 st and 2 nd cuts for the 2 nd and 3 rd cuts] respectively and three nitrogen (N) fertilizer levels viz. 15, 30 and 45 kg N/fad./cut. The results indicated that late cutting date significantly produced the highest growth values for each of plant height (238.2 cm), leaf area/plant (4970.2 cm 2 ) and fresh forage weight (164.9 (g)/plant). Also, the highest fresh and dry forage yields (16.88 and 3.541 ton/fad), the highest total fresh seasonal yield (TFSY) and total dry seasonal yield (TDSY) 37.98 and 7.11 ton/fad., were as well recorded by late cutting in both seasons. Apparently, the highest obtained value of each studied growth traits and the forage yield during both growing seasons was achieved by increasing N fertilizer level up to the highest amount (45 kg N/fad./cut), followed by 30 and 15 kg N/fad./cut, respectively. The significant interaction effect between the two studied factors on forage yield indicated that the highest (TDSY) (7.607 ton/fad.) of pearl millet was obtainable at late cutting date under application of 45 kg N/fad./ cut. The results of the present study has concluded that, cutting at 63 DAS followed by 42 and 35 days interval for next cuts (three cuts) with application of 45 kg N/fad./cut is optimum for better growth and yield performance in pearl millet cultivar "Shandaweel 1" under the agro-climatic conditions of Sharkia Governorate in Egypt and similar areas.

Forage performance of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) in arid regions: Yield and quality assessment of new genotypes on different sowing dates

“…The DMY production of the current genotypes was as high as that produced by the superior millet hybrids tested by Rai et al (2012). They proved to be superior under Egyptian conditions than the millet genotypes investigated by Abd El-Lattief (2011) and Ziki et al (2019). Atis and Akar (2018) reported DMY means of 2.64 and 2.45 t ha -1 for wheat cut at the vegetative growth stage; these values were less than those obtained from the millet genotypes in the present study.…”

The Response of Some Forage Grass Crops to Nitrogen Fertilizer

“…Aziz (2010) found a significant effect on nitrogen fertilizer levels on some of the characteristics of growth where the 40 kg N/ha treatment is higher than zero kg /N/ha treatment in fresh fodder yield when there were no significant differences in the fodder yield for the two treatments zero and 20 kg N/ha as well as between 20 and 40 kg N/ha respectively. This increase in the amount of fresh fodder may be due to the effect of nitrogen, which increases the efficiency of absorption of nutrients from the soil, improves plant growth, increases its branches and leaf area, as well as increases the size of cells as a result of their elongation and rapid division, and therefore increases the abundance of vegetative growth and this described by Ziki et al (2019) in a study on the effect of nitrogen in plant growth, which included four levels of nitrogen fertilization zero, 15, 30 and 45 kg N/ha, that the highest level gave the highest amount of dry fodder and this superiority may be attributed to the increase in plant height and leaf area due to the increase in the amount of nitrogen added at this level and these results have been concluded earlier in studies similar to this study (Shahin et al, 2013;Ibrahim et al, 2014;Kumawat et al, 2017;Bramhaiah et al, 2018;Joshi et al. 2018 andThakor et al.…”

Effect of Water Irrigation Amounts and Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels on Teosinte Productivity and Optimal Economic N-Rates Under Salinity Stress

“…The thickest stem and tallest plant obviously from cut2 under the highest level of nitrogen while, the thinnest stem diameter and plant height recorded from the plots received 60 kg N/fed. The increase in N application, the plant photosynthesizing area, and the assimilate production were increased, therefore caused more plant height, more number of shoots per plant, greater leaf area/plant and thus increased fresh forage weight per plant 29,30 . Moreover, Cho et al have also reported signi cant effect of nitrogen application on stem diameter of pearl millet 31 .…”