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VOL. 10, ISSUE 9 (2023)
Effect Of spacing and phosphorus levels on growth and yields of sorghum in teso north sub-county, western Kenya
Authors
James Mugo Muiruri, David Mushimiyimana, John M Muchiri
Abstract
Sorghum production in Teso Sub County has great
potential but this remains a dream due to various challenges including a lack
of clear recommendation of inorganic phosphorus and appropriate plant spacing. An
on-farm experiment was conducted on two experimental sites in Busia County,
Teso North Sub-County between August and December 2019 to evaluate the effect
of Phosphorus levels and spacing on growth and yield of Gadam sorghum. The study
design was randomized complete block design, RCBD with twelve treatment
combinations of 0, 50, 60 and 75 P2O5 kg
ha-1 and spacings of 50×30, 60×20 and 60×10 cm replicated three
times on each site. Agricultural lime was applied 3 weeks before planting at a rate
of 1,875 kg ha-1. TSP was used as source of P while topdressing was done
using CAN at 40 kg ha-1 N at 50 cm height. Data was collected on the
number of days to first flowering, number of days to physiological maturity,
plant height at maturity and yield. The data was summarized in
MS Excel and analyzed using SPSS version 20 for ANOVA and LSD at α = 0.05. There was a significant difference on number of days to first
flowering with the combination 0 P2O5 kg ha-1 at 50×30 cm giving a significantly longer period of 66.83
days, while the combination 75 kg ha-1 P2O5 with 60×10 cm had the shortest period of 54.09 days (p<0.05). A
significant difference was also observed in time to physiological maturity with
the combination 0 kg ha-1 P2O5 at a spacing of 50×30 cm giving a significantly longer period of 116.33
days while the combination 75 kg ha-1 P2O5 at 60×10 cm gave the shortest period of 91.19 days, (p<0.05). Height
at maturity was significantly affected with the combination 75 kg ha-1
P2O5 at 60×10
cm giving the largest average height of 134 cm while the combination 0 kg ha-1
P2O5 with 50×30 cm
recorded the smallest average height of 101 cm, (p<0.05). Similarly,
there was a significant effect on yield with the combination 75 kg ha-1 P2O5 with 60×10 cm giving
the highest yield of 2400.10 kg ha-1 while the
combination 0 kg ha-1 P2O5 at a spacing of 50×30 cm gave
the lowest yield of 841.33 kg ha-1,
(p<0.05). Our study recommends that farmers in Teso Sub- County adopt the combination
of 75 kg ha-1 P2O5 and spacing of 60×10
cm. Further research on sources of Phosphorus can be undertaken.
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Pages:83-89
How to cite this article:
James Mugo Muiruri, David Mushimiyimana, John M Muchiri "Effect Of spacing and phosphorus levels on growth and yields of sorghum in teso north sub-county, western Kenya". International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, Vol 10, Issue 9, 2023, Pages 83-89
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