Effect of Time Nitrogen Fertilizer Application on Growth and Yield of Grain Sorghum

A study was established for determining the effect of nitrogen (urea) fertilizer method and time of application on the growth and yield of grain sorghum varieties. The experiment was conducted as a Factorial Randomized Block Design replicated thrice comprising five Nitrogen split doses with two varieties during 2014-15 growing season at sorghum research station VNMKV, Parbhani. The main plots were allocated to two genotype G1: CSH 16 & G2: CSV 20 and the subplots were assigned to fertilizer application time viz., N1: 50% N at sowing and 50% at 30 DAS, N2: 50% at sowing + 25% at 30 DAS + 25% at boot-leaf stage (BLS), N3: 25% at sowing + 50% at 30 DAS +25% at Boot leaf stage (BLS), N4: 25% at sowing + 50% at 30 DAS +15% at BLS +10 % at grain filling stage (GFS), N5: 25% at sowing + 45% at 30 DAS + 5% at foliar spray at 45 DAS +15 % BLS + 10% at GFS. The results of the experiment revealed that time of N fertilizer application i.e. 25% at sowing + 50% at 30 DAS +25% at Boot leaf stage (BLS ) gives higher grain and fodder yield over the other treatments. Among genotypes CSH 16 (2982 kg/ha) produced significantly the highest grain yield and fodder yield was significantly higher with CSV 20 (11373 kg /ha) over CSH-16.