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Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station

Received: 5 February 2021     Accepted: 21 May 2021     Published: 27 May 2021
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Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Babille district, during 2018 and 2019 main cropping season at Erer Research Station. Erer research sub site is located latitude of 09° 10' 41.5" north and longitude of 042° 15' 27.3". The objectives of the experiments were to evaluate and select best methods of root zone moisture retention and soil conservation techniques suited for early mature sorghum. The treatments of experiments were, Control (no soil and water conservation measures), open ended tied ridge, level soil bund, contour furrow, closed ended tied ridge, Broad bed, Semi-circular and mulch respectively. The design of the experiment was RCBD with three replication. Genstats 18th editions was used for data Analysis. Statistically there is highly significant variation among the treatments in terms of all parameters at 5% significance level across three planting years. First year, the highest plant height was obtained from the treatment with Broad bed followed by closed ended tied ridge. On other hand, the lowest plant height was recorded from the treatments with soil bund followed by control (no conservation structure). This is because of no more top fertile soil disturbance during first year. During the second and third planting year, the highest, plant height (132.86cm) and the longest panicle diameter (6.5) was recorded, from the treatments with open ended tied ridge, followed by soil bund and contour furrow respectively. That was because of soil and water conservation (swc) structures design and extra moisture harvested in those structure than rest treatments. During the first year of the experiment, the highest grain yield was obtained from the mulch followed by open ended tied ridge treatments. This is because of no and slight top soil disturbance during the construction stage. But, the third year, the maximum grain yield was recorded from contour furrow followed by open ended tied ridge (2130.9 and 2000kg ha-1) respectively. The lowest yield was obtained from no conservation measures followed by mulching (1125 and 1232.1 kg ha-1). The most probable reason for this variation can be due to the amount of the moisture harvested in the root zone of sorghum because of conservation structure. So contour furrow and open ended tied ridges are suitable swc measures for the area.

Published in Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11
Page(s) 29-35
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Swc-Physical, Soil and Water Conservation, Sorghum, Moisture, Contour Furrow

References
[1] Critchely W, Siegert K, Champman C (1991) A manual for the design and construction of water harvesting schemes for plant production. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome. http://www.fao.org/docrep/U3160E/u3160e00.HTM
[2] FAO AGL (2006). Crop water management: Soybean. Agriculture, Land, and Water (AGLW) Management Group, Land and Water Development Division, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy. water-management@fao.org
[3] FAO. 2001. Guidelines and reference materials for promoting integrated soil and nutrient management in Farmer Field Schools. Reference material for the module on Tillage. Land and Water Development Division. Rome.
[4] Georgis K, Takele A. 2000. Conservation farming technologies for sustaining crop production in semi-arid areas of Ethiopia. In Conservation Tillage for Dryland Farming. Technological options and experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa, eds. E. K. Biamah; J. Rockstrom; G. E. Okwach. RELMA, Workshop Report No. 3, 142-147.
[5] Karrar, A. B., et al. "Effects of some in-situ water harvesting techniques on soil moisture and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) production in northern Gedaref state." Glob J Plant Ecophysiol 2 (2012): 54-66.
[6] Kidane, G., 1982. The influence of some tillage methods and spacing on soil moisture regimes and their effects on growth and development of sorghum. An M.Sc. Thesis presented to the School of Graduate Studies of Alemaya University.
[7] Milkias, Amisalu, Teshale Tadesse, and Habtamu Zeleke. "Evaluating the effects of in-situ rainwater harvesting techniques on soil moisture conservation and grain yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in Fedis District, Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia." Turkish Journal of Agriculture-Food Science and Technology 6.9 (2018): 1129-1133.
[8] Moroke, T. S., Schwartz, R. C., Brown, K. W., and Juo, A. S. R. (2005). Soil water depletion and root distribution of three dry land crops. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 69, 197-205.
[9] Mudalagiriyappa BK, Ramachandrappa HV, Nanjappa HV (2012) Moisture conservation practices and nutrient management on growth and yield of rabisorghum (Sorghumbicolor) in the vertisols of peninsular India. Agric Sci 3 (4): 588–593. https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2012.34071
[10] Pal, U. R. and Murari, K. (1985). Length × width measurement for estimating leaf area of grain sorghum. Samaru Journal of Agricultural Research, 3, 109–112.
[11] Patil SL, Sheelavantar MN (2003) Effect of cultural practices on soil properties, moisture conservation and grain yield of winter sorghum (Sorghum bicolar L. Moench) in semi-arid tropics of India. Agric Water Manag 64 (1): 49–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-3774(03)00178-1.
[12] Ramesh, T. and Rathika, S. (2009). Land configuration techniques for rain fed Alfisols ecosystem- review. Green Farming 2 (12), p. 879-881.
[13] Stern, R. D., Dennett, M. D., and Dale, I. C. (1982). Analysing daily rainfall measurement to give agronomically useful results, 1: Direct methods. Experimental Agriculture, 18, 223-236.
[14] Tilander, Y. and Bonzi, M. (1997). Water and nutrient conservation through the use of agroforestry mulches, and sorghum yield response. Plant and Soil, 197, 219-232.
[15] Waghmare, A. B., Krishnan, T. K., and Singh, S. P. (1982). Crop compatibility and spatial arrangement in sorghum-based intercropping systems. Journal of Agricultural Science (Cambridge), 99, 621-629.
[16] Uwizeyimana, D., et al. International Soil and Water Conservation Research (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2018.03.002i.
[17] Yitebitu Moges. 2004. Innovations in dryland farming techniques. Consultancy Sub-report No. 5. FARM Africa/SOS Sahel.
[18] Zougmore, R., Mando, A., and Stroosnijder, L. (2004). Effect of soil and water conservation and nutrient management on the soil-plant water balance in the semi-arid Burkina Faso. Agricultural Water Management, 65, 103-120.
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    Robe Elema, Hussein Abiro, Sisay Negash. (2021). Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 10(3), 29-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11

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    Robe Elema; Hussein Abiro; Sisay Negash. Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station. J. Water Resour. Ocean Sci. 2021, 10(3), 29-35. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11

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    AMA Style

    Robe Elema, Hussein Abiro, Sisay Negash. Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station. J Water Resour Ocean Sci. 2021;10(3):29-35. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11,
      author = {Robe Elema and Hussein Abiro and Sisay Negash},
      title = {Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station},
      journal = {Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science},
      volume = {10},
      number = {3},
      pages = {29-35},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wros.20211003.11},
      abstract = {The experiment was conducted at Babille district, during 2018 and 2019 main cropping season at Erer Research Station. Erer research sub site is located latitude of 09° 10' 41.5" north and longitude of 042° 15' 27.3". The objectives of the experiments were to evaluate and select best methods of root zone moisture retention and soil conservation techniques suited for early mature sorghum. The treatments of experiments were, Control (no soil and water conservation measures), open ended tied ridge, level soil bund, contour furrow, closed ended tied ridge, Broad bed, Semi-circular and mulch respectively. The design of the experiment was RCBD with three replication. Genstats 18th editions was used for data Analysis. Statistically there is highly significant variation among the treatments in terms of all parameters at 5% significance level across three planting years. First year, the highest plant height was obtained from the treatment with Broad bed followed by closed ended tied ridge. On other hand, the lowest plant height was recorded from the treatments with soil bund followed by control (no conservation structure). This is because of no more top fertile soil disturbance during first year. During the second and third planting year, the highest, plant height (132.86cm) and the longest panicle diameter (6.5) was recorded, from the treatments with open ended tied ridge, followed by soil bund and contour furrow respectively. That was because of soil and water conservation (swc) structures design and extra moisture harvested in those structure than rest treatments. During the first year of the experiment, the highest grain yield was obtained from the mulch followed by open ended tied ridge treatments. This is because of no and slight top soil disturbance during the construction stage. But, the third year, the maximum grain yield was recorded from contour furrow followed by open ended tied ridge (2130.9 and 2000kg ha-1) respectively. The lowest yield was obtained from no conservation measures followed by mulching (1125 and 1232.1 kg ha-1). The most probable reason for this variation can be due to the amount of the moisture harvested in the root zone of sorghum because of conservation structure. So contour furrow and open ended tied ridges are suitable swc measures for the area.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Evaluation and Selection of Physical Soil and Water Conservation Techniques for Early Mature Sorghum Root Zone Moisture Retention at Harari, Erer Research Station
    AU  - Robe Elema
    AU  - Hussein Abiro
    AU  - Sisay Negash
    Y1  - 2021/05/27
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11
    T2  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JF  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JO  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    SP  - 29
    EP  - 35
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7993
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20211003.11
    AB  - The experiment was conducted at Babille district, during 2018 and 2019 main cropping season at Erer Research Station. Erer research sub site is located latitude of 09° 10' 41.5" north and longitude of 042° 15' 27.3". The objectives of the experiments were to evaluate and select best methods of root zone moisture retention and soil conservation techniques suited for early mature sorghum. The treatments of experiments were, Control (no soil and water conservation measures), open ended tied ridge, level soil bund, contour furrow, closed ended tied ridge, Broad bed, Semi-circular and mulch respectively. The design of the experiment was RCBD with three replication. Genstats 18th editions was used for data Analysis. Statistically there is highly significant variation among the treatments in terms of all parameters at 5% significance level across three planting years. First year, the highest plant height was obtained from the treatment with Broad bed followed by closed ended tied ridge. On other hand, the lowest plant height was recorded from the treatments with soil bund followed by control (no conservation structure). This is because of no more top fertile soil disturbance during first year. During the second and third planting year, the highest, plant height (132.86cm) and the longest panicle diameter (6.5) was recorded, from the treatments with open ended tied ridge, followed by soil bund and contour furrow respectively. That was because of soil and water conservation (swc) structures design and extra moisture harvested in those structure than rest treatments. During the first year of the experiment, the highest grain yield was obtained from the mulch followed by open ended tied ridge treatments. This is because of no and slight top soil disturbance during the construction stage. But, the third year, the maximum grain yield was recorded from contour furrow followed by open ended tied ridge (2130.9 and 2000kg ha-1) respectively. The lowest yield was obtained from no conservation measures followed by mulching (1125 and 1232.1 kg ha-1). The most probable reason for this variation can be due to the amount of the moisture harvested in the root zone of sorghum because of conservation structure. So contour furrow and open ended tied ridges are suitable swc measures for the area.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Fedis Agricultural Research Centre, Harar, Ethiopia

  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Fedis Agricultural Research Centre, Harar, Ethiopia

  • Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Fedis Agricultural Research Centre, Harar, Ethiopia

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