Effect of Moisture Conservation Practices and Soil Fertility Management on Yield of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) in the Moisture Deficit Areas of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Study to investigate agronomic and economic effect of planting basins was conducted at Raya Alamata districts of Tigray, northern Ethiopia in 2016 and 2017 cropping season. Included treatments were; planting basin with fertilizer, planting basin without fertilizer, planting basin with farmyard manure, planting basin with fertilizer and farmyard manure, planting basin with fertilizer and cowpea intercropping , planting basin without fertilizer under cowpea intercropping , conventional/farmers practice planted sole sorghum and cowpea laid down in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Analysis of variance for grain yield showed significantly (P<0.05) more variation among the farming practices considered in the study. Higher grain yield of 4.61 and 4.0 tha^-1 with more optimum economic returns were obtained from planting basin moisture conservation practice with fertilizer and planting basin with farmyard manure, respectively. While the lowest mean Sorghum grain yield of 2.86 t ha^-1 was recorded in the conventional planting. The farmers have select planting basins with fertilizer, planting basin with farmyard manure and planting basin with farmyard and fertilizer 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively based on over all crop performance. Planting basin practices outperforms their conventional farming counterparts.  Consequently, planting basin moisture conservation practices can enhance Sorghum yield by increasing soil moisture holding in the crop growth period. Therefore, planting basin is recommended for sorghum production in the study areas even though its efficiency should be validated through different agro ecologies, soil types and climatic conditions for a comprehensive recommendation.