Effect of Partial Rootzone Drying Technique on Growth Performance of Sorghum

Abstract

A greenhouse experiments was conducted at Faculty of Agrotechnology and Food Science Research Farm, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu to evaluate the effects of partial rootzone drying (PRD) techniques on growth performance of sorghum planted on two series of soil. Partial root zone drying (PRD) consisted of a four irrigation regimes namely full irrigation (I₁₀₀), 75% (I₇₅), 50% (I₅₀) and 25% (I₂₅) and the two types of soil are Rhu Tapai Soil Series and Rengam soil Series. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with eight treatments. The treatments were randomly assigned to experimental polythenebags and replicated four times. A total of thirty two polythenebags were used for the study. All agronomic practices starting from preparation to harvesting were adhered to and growth and yield parameters were recorded for the experiment. The result of the study shows that, sorghum performed better under the PRD technique. The results further revealed that, irrigation regimes I₁₀₀ and I₇₅ performed better in terms of growth parameters, crop water use efficiency, under PRD compared to I₅₀ and I₂₅ irrigation regimes. The study also revealed that there were interaction effects of PRD irrigation and the two types of soil on some of the parameters such as leaf area index, girth, tillers, harvest index, root dry matter used for the study. The study, therefore, recommended the use of PRD irrigation for optimizing sorghum production in this agro ecological zone.

Keywords: Partial root zone drying, growth, sorghum