Evaluation of Improved Sorghum Agronomic Options in the Moisture Stress Areas of Abergelle District, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

A field experiment  was conducted for two years, during 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 cropping seasons using a randomized complete block design with four replications to identify best agronomic option techniques for enhancing sorghum productivity in moisture stress conditions at Abergelle agricultural research center on station. The treatments were direct sowing at onset of rainfall, seedling transplanting (raising on nursery site) and seed priming. The result of the experiment indicated that the highest mean grain yield was recorded from the seedling transplanting (3.03 t/ha), while the lowest mean grain yield was obtained from direct sowing (1.49 t/ha). This study revealed that seedling transplanting was the best option to reduce risks associated with the direct sowing of sorghum through facilitating earliness to flowering and maturity, which in turn enables it to escape early cessation of rain fall, as the flowering stage is sensitive to moisture stress. Generally, it can be recommended that sorghum transplanting technology should be a first choice option of small scale subsistence farming community in the moisture stress areas of Abergelle and other districts having the same agro-ecologies in the region, Northern Ethiopia.

Keywords: Agronomic option, Grain yield, Moisture stress, Sorghum, Transplanting