EFFECT OF NITROGEN AND SEEDING RATES ON THE STRAW AND GRAIN YIELD OF ACHA (Digitaria exilis Kippis Stapf)

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Federal College of Land Resource Technology, Kuru, Jos, Plateau State in 2019 and 2020to determine the optimum nitrogen and seeding rates on straw and grain yields of Acha. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatments were three levels of nitrogen (0, 30, and 60kgNha-1 and three seeding rates (10, 20, and 30kgha-1 respectively. Seeds were sown by drilling at 50cm inter- row spacing. The parameters measures were number of tillers, plant height, straw weight and grain yield. The results revealed that, Treatments had significant (P > 0.05) effect on all the parameters measured (number of tillers, straw weight and grain yield) except for plant height. It can be concluded that, Nitrogen at 30kgNha-1 and the seeding rate of 30kgha-1 is the optimum for the production of straw as crop residue for livestock feeding.