Gezira J. of agric. sci. 15(1): 123—127(2017)

 

SHORT NOTE

 

Effect of fallow and non-fallow with sugarbeet on maize (Zea mays L.) performance in Guneid Sugar Scheme

 

Salaheldin A. Mukhtar1 and Abu Elhassan S. Ibrahim2

 

1 Sugarcane Research Center-Guneid, Sudan.

2 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Gezira, Wad Medani, Sudan.

Corresponding Author: salahamukhtar@hotmail.com

 

    Maize (Zea mays L.) is a cereal crop grown widely throughout the world in a range of agroecological environments. More maize is produced annually than any other grain. About 50 species of maize exist and consist of different colors, textures, grain shapes and sizes. White, yellow and red seeds of maize are the most common types. The white and yellow varieties are preferred by most people depending on the region. Elzubeir and Mohamed (2011) stated that in Sudan, maize is normally grown as a rain-fed crop in Kordofan and Darfur, or in small irrigated areas in the Northern State. They reported that maize is largely used for animal feed and commercial starch production.

    Cultivation of crops in large agricultural schemes follows specific rotations,  with the aims of restoring soil fertility and controlling pests and diseases. It is expected that the previous crop or fallow in the rotation will have conspicuous effect on the subsequent crop. Fallow is commonly referred to as a resting period for agricultural land between two cropping cycles during which soil fertility is restored with many other benefits (Styger and Fernandes, 2006). Cusimano et al., (2014) reported that short-term fallowing had increased the quantity of carbon, soil organic matter and nitrogen. Crops differ in their recovery of nutrient fertilizers. It is reported that sugar beet recovery from N fertilizer was as much as  77% (Vallis  and  Keating, 1996).

   In this connection, the objective of this study was to compare the effect of the land left fallow to that grown with sugarbeet on the performance of subsequent maize cultivation in Guneid Sugar Scheme, Sudan.

    This study was conducted in the Sugar Research Center-Guneid farm in Guneid Sugar Scheme, Sudan. The soils were Vertisols with more than 40% clay. Soil properties were described by Mukhtar (2015). The experiment consisted of two treatments:

1. The land was grown with sugarbeet which stayed in the soil for 6 months from November 2014 to April 2015 and then left fallow up to 1/11/2015. Sugarbeet was fertilized with 50 kg of triple superphosphate (P2O5 48%) and 100 kg of urea (46%N) per feddan.

2. Land was left fallow from November 2014 to November 2015.

    Treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design with 10 replicates. Land was prepared with deep ploughing, harrowing and leveling. Maize was sown on ridges 10 meters long, 80 cm between rows and 15 cm between plants. Maize variety Yellow Baladi was sown in the first of November, 2015. Fertilizers were not added to any plot. Irrigation and weeding were done as required. Harvest was done on 20 March, 2016 at physiological maturity. One meter was harvested randomly from a row of each plot and the following measurements were taken: Fresh forage yield (t/feddan), plant height (cm), cob height (cm), number of cobs/feddan, 100-seed weight (g), and grain yield (t/feddan). The data were subjected to the analysis of variance procedure.

    Morphologically, the maize plants grown in the fallow land were robust, big, vigorous, dark green and tall compared to those sown in the land of the sugarbeet (non-fallow lands). The data in Table 1 show that the increase in the plant height for the fallow sown maize was 68% while the increase in the cob height was almost 100%. The character of number of cobs per feddan was not affected by the fallowing, an indication that such trait is highly genetically controlled and not affected by fertilization.

   The 100-seed weight, a highly related character to grain yield, increased by 84% in the fallow land in comparison to that in the sugarbeet land (Table 1). High 100-seed weight usually requires high soil fertility furnished by fallowing.

    Fresh weight per feddan, i.e. fresh forage yield, is a very important character that can convince the farmer to go for fallowing. In the Sudan, usually we have inadequacy of green forage during winter (November–March), mainly because growing forage sorghum will give low yields during this period due of sorghum photoperiodicity. Such a problem can be solved by growing maize, though the stem borer is a real problem for maize grain yield. Fallowing increased fresh forage yield by 154%, equivalent to about 10 tons per feddan. The increase in fresh forage yield is expected to be larger if the crop was harvested at flowering and not at physiological maturity as in this study. Harvesting at flowering stage will improve both the quality and quantity of the harvested crop.

   Data in Table 1 also showed that increase in grain yield due to fallowing was very large (227%) equivalent to 0.5 ton per feddan or 5 sacks of grains; each sack weighs 100 kg, to convince our farmers. In central Sudan, growing maize for grains in winter is faced by the stem borer problem. In this study, it is suggested to grow maize under fallowing in Guneid Sugar Scheme mainly for green forage harvested at flowering stage to escape the stem borer attack and to sustain forage quality. It is very difficult to convince farmers with such recommendation because they concentrate mainly on quantity and not quality.

 

Table 1. Effect of fallow and land grown previously with sugarbeet (non-fallow) on fresh forage yield, grain yield, and yield components of maize, Guneid Sugar Scheme, 2015/2016. 

Character

Fallow land

Sugarbeet land

Increase (%)

S.E. (±)

C.V. (%)

Plant height (cm)

186.3

111.4

68

3.6

7.6

Cob height/plant (cm)

126

66

91

4.1

13.6

Number of cobs/feddan

33075

25725

29

0.51

20.2

100-seed weight (g)

13.6

7.4

84

0.72

21.7

Fresh forage yield (t/fed)

15.5

6.1

154

1.5

29.5

Grain yield (t/fed)

0.72

0.22

227

0.16

23.0

 

The current study depicted very clearly that fallowing improved soil nutrient content as well as its structure. Such improvement was shown by the increase in the vegetative growth, green forage and grain yields. Styger and Fernandes (2006) reported that the fallow (resting period) would restore the soil fertility, while Cusimano et al. (2014) stated that the succession of crops in the crop rotation is desired especially if tap root crops like sugarbeet are followed by adventitious rooted crops like maize. Vallis and Keating (1996) suggested that when sowing heavy feeder crops like sugarbeet, the land should be adequately fertilized for the next crop.

    The recommendation of this study, i.e. sugarbeet land in Guneid Sugar Scheme, is suggested to be left fallow for a period of almost 8 months and then grown with maize in winter, is faced with two problems. (1) Is it economical to leave the land fallow for this long period? And (2) Is it possible to convince the farmer to leave his land without cultivation for this long period. Fallow lands in this scheme are used for grazing and consequently damaging the soil structure (hard pans) due to animal footing. Such questions need further studies to be answered.

However, in other sugar schemes in the Sudan, where cane after cane was the adopted policy and no farmer exists, this study depicts the importance of the fallow period. It is clear that the fallow land surpassed the sugarbeet land (non-fallow) although the crop was fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus. So, when growing heavy feeder crops that consume most of the added fertilizers, especially nitrogen, such as sugarbeet, N fertilizer should be added.  

 

 

REFERENCES

 

Cusimano, J., S.B. Megdal, J.E. McLain and J.C. Silvertooth. 2014. Study finds land fallowing improves soil quality in PVID. The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Water Resources Research Center, Winter Newsletter, Az., USA.

Elzubeir, A.O. and A.E. Mohamed. 2011. Response of maize (Zea mays L.) growth and yield to irrigation regimes and different tillage systems in arid area of Sudan. Agriculture and Biology Journal of North America ISSN Print: 2151-7517, ISSN Online: 2151-7525.

Mukhtar, S.A. 2015. Response of sugarcane ratoons to nitrogen rates and method of application in Guneid Sugar Scheme, Sudan. Gezira Journal of Agricultural Science 13(2): 18-34.

Styger E. and C.M. Fernandes. 2006. Contributions of managed fallows to soil fertility recovery. In: Biological Approaches to Sustainable Soil Systems. The World Bank. CRC Press; 1st edition. Washington DC, U S A.

Vallis, I. and B.A. Keating. 1996. Uptake and loss of fertilizer and soil N in sugarcane crops. Sugar Cane 2: 12-16.