THE EFFECT OF GENOTYPE AND STAGE OF CUTTING IN THE QUANTITY AND THE QUALITY OF SORGHUM FORAGE

Abstract

The study was conducted at the farm of field crops Department, College of Agriculture, Baghdad university, Abu- Ghraib., for two seasons Spring and Autumn of 2013. To determine the effect of Sorghum genotypes and stages of cuttig on the quantity and quality of forage yield. The genotypes are Sb-0, Sb-1, Sb-2, Sb-3, Sb-7, Sb-8, Sb-9, Sb-12, Sb-14, Sb-16 and Kaffir. The stages of cutting are growth stage, Cutting at 50% flowering, cutting on 100% flowering. Layout of the exp. Was (R.C.B.D) with four Reps arranged in split-plot. Cutting stages were used as the main plot while, the genotypes were used as sup-plot. The result of the study showed That Sorghum genotypes significantly affected the quality and quantity of forage yield as following: Sb-0 genotype significantly gave the highest forage yield (54,532 and 61.759 t.h-1) for spring and autumn respectively. Also Sb-0 genotype gave the highest dry weight and fiber (15.169, 18.083, 8.304 and 9.941 t.h-1) for the spring and autumn respectively. The Sb-9 genotype gave the highest percentage of protein and protein yield (12.55%, 12.67%, 1.803 and 2.210 t.h-1) for the two seasons respectively. The stages of cut significantly affected the quality and quantity and Sorghum forage yield. The cutting on 100% flowering gave the highest forage dry matter, protein, and fiber (47.962, 54.984, 15.530, 18.114, 1.503, 1.778, 9.149 and 10.734 t.h1) for the two seasons respectively. The results also showed significant interaction between genotypes and stage of cut in all the qualities studied.