Effects of Soil Moisture Conservation and Nutrient Management on Soil Water Content and WUE of Grain Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) in Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Water and nutrients are the most constraining factors in sorghum production in semiarids of eastern Ethiopia. Combining soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices may reduce these limitations. The study was carried out to explore the effects of combining soil moisture preservation and integrated nutrient management practices on soil water content and water-use efficiency (WUE) of grain sorghum. A split plot experiment was conducted at Babile and Erer districts amid the 2017 cropping season. Main plots were assigned to soil moisture conservation practices (flatbed and tied ridge) and the sub-plots were assigned to six nutrient combinations of 0N0P kg + t FYM; 46N10P kg + t FYM ha-1; 0N0P kg + 5 t FYM ha-1; 23N5P kg + 2.5 t FYM ha-1; 46N10P kg + 2.5 t FYM ha-1 and 23N5P kg + 5 t FYM ha-1. Treatments were randomized in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The sorghum variety 'Teshale' was used as a test crop. The results uncovered that both biomass and grain water-use efficiencies considerably improved with tied ridges coordinates with NP and FYM than other treatments. Tied ridges combined with 46N10P kg + 2.5 t FYM ha-1 and 23N5P kg + 5 t FYM ha-1 were way better than those of tied edges. The tied edges with 46N10P kg + 2.5 t FYM ha-1 (M5) as compared to unfertilized flatbeds, had brought about approximately 110 and 99% increment in biomass WUE and around 114 and 124% increment in grain WUE at Babile and Erer areas, respectively. Essentially, soil water content was higher for tied ridges amended with FYM and integrated NP and FYM as compared to other treatments. We, hence, concluded that combining moisture conservation impacts with the integrated nutrient amendment would improve soil water content and water-use efficiency of grain sorghum in eastern Ethiopia.