Effect of Nitrogen and Variety on Agronomic Performance of Rhodes Grass (Chloris gayana Kunth) in the Sudan
An experiment was conducted in Shambat (2016- 2017) in the demonstration farm of the College of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University for Science and Technology, to study the effect of variety and nitrogen fertilization on the agronomic performance of Rhodes grass. Two Rhodess grass varieties (Fine cut and Reclaimer) and 2 nitrogen doses plus control were studied across seven cuts. The treatments were replicated four times in split plot experiment with fertilizer doses assigned to the main plots and the varieties to the subplots. The data collected included forage yield, plant height and days to 50% flowering. Differences between varieties and their interaction with cuts were not significant for forage yield. Differences between fertilizer doses for forage yield and their interaction with cuts were highly significant. The nitrogen dose 120kgN/ha significantly increased for age yield and plant height over 60kgN/ha and the control with yield increment of 118%. The dose 60kgN/ha failed to give significant increase in yield over the control. The highest forage yield was obtained in the first cut after establishment then started to decease. The nitrogen dose 120kgN/ha maintained comparatively high yield throughout the subsequent cuts. It was concluded that nitrogen application has significant positive impact on productivity of Rhodes grass. Future research should focus on optimizing management of nitrogen dose across cuts. Lack of differences between Rhodes grass varieties in forage yield was attributed to the narrow genetic base of the diploid group. More attention should be given to Tetraploid varieties (Callide, Samford) to enhance productivity of the dairy farms.
