Effect of Partial Rootzone Drying Technique on Yield and Yield Components of Sorghum Cultivar

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 yield and yield components 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 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 yield and yield components, crop water use efficiency, under PRD compared to I₅₀ and I₂₅ irrigation regimes. The study also revealed that there were interaction effects of deficit irrigation and the two types of soil on some of the parameters such as harvest index and number of panicle used for the study. The benefit-cost ratio of sorghum production under I₁₀₀ and I₇₅ irrigation regimes were found to be economically better compared to I₅₀ and I₂₅ irrigation regimes for PRDI. The study, therefore, recommended the use of PRDI for optimizing sorghum production in the semi arid regions..