%0 Journal Article
%T Optimizing Tillage and Irrigation Requirements of Sorghum in Sorghum-Pigeonpea Intercrop in Hamelmalo Region of Eritrea
%A Tesfalem Weldeslassie
%A Ramesh Prasad Tripathi
%A Woldeselassie Ogbazghi
%J Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection
%P 63-73
%@ 2327-4344
%D 2016
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/gep.2016.44009
%X Sorghum (<i>Sorghum
bicolor</i> L. Moench) is cultivated as monocrop in Eritrea. Efforts were made
to grow sorghum-pigeonpea (<i>Cajanus
cajan </i>L. Millspp.) intercrop on the tillage, fertilizers and
supplementary irrigations necessary for sorghum. Experiments were conducted in
terraced fields at Hamelmalo during 2013-15 to evaluate growth and yield of
sorghum-pigeonpea intercrop in split plot design with conventional tillage
(CT), reduced tillage (RT) and zero tillage (ZT) in main plots and rainfed (I<sub>0</sub>),
50% of full irrigation (I<sub>1</sub>), 75% of full irrigation (I<sub>2</sub>)
and 100% of full irrigation (I<sub>3</sub>) in subplots. All irrigations were
stopped 15 days before sorghum maturity. Full irrigation was 60 mm applied at
50% depletion of available soil water in 1 m profile. <span lang=\"EN-IN\">Sorghum growth was
faster than pigeonpea until 85 days from planting and pigeonpea growth
accelerated only after sorghum harvesting.</span><span lang=\"EN-IN\"> </span><span lang=\"EN-IN\">About 80% of sorghum roots were within 0.6 m
profile but more than 75% of pigeonpea roots were below 0.60 m depth. This
showed a weaker competition between the two crops for nutrients, water and
light. </span><span lang=\"EN-US\">Both grain and
stover yields of sorghum were optimum in RT + I<sub>2</sub> during the 2 years.
Highest grain yield was 6900 kg<span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">กค</span>ha<sup><span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">-</span>1</sup> in RT + I<sub>3</sub> in 2013,
which was at par with that in RT + I<sub>2</sub>. Mean residual soil moisture
at sorghum harvesting was 74 mm<span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">กค</span>m<sup><span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">-</span>1</sup>, which decreased to 8 mm<span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">กค</span>m<sup><span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">-</span>1</sup> by pigeonpea harvesting. Residual moisture was more in the irrigated than
non-irrigated plots. Pigeonpea yields were optimum (1363 kg<span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">กค</span>ha<sup><span style=\"font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;white-space:normal;background-color:#FFFFFF;\">-</span>1</sup>)
in RT +
%K Residual Soil Moisture
%K Sorghum-Pigeonpea Intercrop
%K Supplementary Irrigation
%K Water Use Efficiency
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=65836