Abstract

Field experiments conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore in dryland Vertisols during North-East Monsoon (NEM) seasons of 1999 and 2000 to investigate the performance of sorghum varieties under different sowing times and levels of nitrogen and phosphorus revealed that the variety CSV 15 sown before the receipt of monsoon rainfall during 1999 NEM season with 60:30:0 kg N: PO: K,O ha had registered enhanced growth attributes and produced carheads with higher number of grains and in turn registered higher grain yield. The resource use efficiencies were also higher with CSV 15 sown before the receipt of monsoon rainfall resulting in high B:C ratio. During 2000 NEM season, sowing of CSV 15 before the receipt of monsoon rainfall with 40:20:0 kg N: P,O,: K,O ha produced appreciable growth attributes and produced lengthier earheads with more number of grains and finally recorded higher grain yield. The resource use efficiencies and B:C ratio were also higher for this combination.

Keywords: Pre-monsoon sowing, Sorghum cultivar, CSV 15.