EFFECT OF TIED-RIDGE AND MULCHING ON GROWTH, YIELD AND YIELD RELATED PARAMETERS OF SORGHUM (Sorghum bicol-or (L.) Moench) IN BABILE DISTRICT EAST HARARGHE ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Soil moisture stress is one of the major problems that affect the growth and yield of sorghum crops during the main season in arid and semi-arid areas of East Hararghe. In such an area, integrated in-situ water conservation techniques and the application of mulching are very im-portant. The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of tied ridge and mulching on sorghum growth, yield, yield-related components, and water use efficiency in Babile District East Ha-rarghe Zone which is highly affected by moisture stress. The field study was conducted using a randomized complete design in which nine treatments consisted of the combination of in situ water conservation techniques (Tied-ridge plus furrow planting, Tied-ridge plus ridge plant-ing and Flatbed plus row planting) and mulching types (Plastic, Straw and No mulch) with three replications constituting 27 plots. The results revealed in different in-situ soil moisture conservation and mulching types were a significant differences (P<0.05) that affected all the studied parameters of yield and yield components of sorghum at the study site. The soil mois-ture conserved through the growth stages was increased due to the application of the tied-ridge plus furrow planting with black plastic mulching (TFP) at 0 to 90 cm depth of the soil from the planting stage to the maturity stages of sorghum. The results showed that the applica-tion of tied-ridge plus furrow planting with black plastic mulching (TFP) and tied-ridge plus furrow planting with straw mulching (TFS) increased the soil moisture storage by 136 % and 107% in the mean of three soil depths than the flatbed plus row planting with non-mulching (BN) plot treatment during the maturity stage respectively. Moreover, higher growth, yield, and yield components including water use efficiency were obtained in the treatment. The high-est grain yield of 6211.6 kgha-1, biomass yield of 15877.9 kgha-1, and water use efficiency of 20.87 kgha-1mm-1 was obtained in tied-ridge plus furrow planting with black plastic mulching (TFP) treatment, whereas the flatbed plus row planting with non-mulching (BN) resulted in the lowest grain yield of 2104.73 kgha-1, biomass yield of 5434.5 kgha-1, and water use effi-ciency of 6.8 kg ha-1mm-1. Based on this experiment the maximum grain yield, biomass yield and WUE were obtained from tied-ridge plus furrow planting with black plastic mulching (TFP) could be recommended for study area and related agro-ecology.