The genotype traits of forage sorghum, sudan grass and their interspecies hybrid in the conditions of intensive nitrogen nutrition

Abstract

The subject of this study is a three-year study (carried out during 2007, 2008 and 2009) of the morphological characteristics variability in three genotypes NS-Džin (Forage Sorghum), Zora (Sudan grass) and Siloking (interspecies hybrid) depending on the amount of nitrogen used for plant nutrition. For the height and mass analysis of fresh stems and leaves as well as leaf mass and leaf portion in the total biomass, samples were taken from the first swath when the effect of the used nitrogen amounts was the greatest. The results have shown that there are significant variations in the tested properties between the genotypes. The Siloking genotype had the highest total biomass during all three years. The largest leaf mass was found in the NS-Džin genotype, while the Zora genotype had the highest leaf portion in the three-year average. The effect of nitrogen use depended on the weather conditions, as well as the layout of the rainfall, so that the optimal quantity was 105 kg ha-1 during the first and the second year, and 150 kg ha -1 during the third year.