Effect of Seed Pelleting and Water Regime on the Performance of Some Forage Species

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during the season 2008 in the Nursery of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, Shambat, Sudan, to investigate the effect of different levels of water regimes and three types of pelleting on growth and yield of Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.), Teff grass (Eragrostis tef), Rhodes grass (Choris gayana L.) and Siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum). Pelleting treatments used were farmyard manure, clay and silt in ratio of 1:3 and control using the gum Arabic as a cementing material. Three irrigation intervals were used namely every other day, every 4 days and every 6 days. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed that plant height, number of leaves, number of plant per unit area, leaf area index and forage fresh and dry weights increased significantly with reduction of irrigation interval. Growth attribute and yield were higher in Teff grass and Rhodes grass than Alfalfa and Siratro. Pelleting techniques had no significant effects on yield growth parameters, except plant hight. However, generally the highest growth attributes seed pelleting treatments were recorded farmyard manure, followed by clay-silt mixture and lastly control.