EFFECT OF NITROGENOUS AND PHOSPHATIC FERTILIZERS ON PERFORMANCE OF RAINFED PEARL MILLET (PENNISETUM GLAUCUM L.) GROWN ON CLAY LOAM SOIL

An experiment was conducted for two summer seasons (2000 and 2001) to study the effect of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers on performance of rainfed pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) grown on clay loam soil at University of Zalingei site, Western Darfour states, Sudan. The experimental design used was spilt-plot design with five replications. Four nitrogen treatments (0, 30, 60 and 80 kg N/ha) and four phosphorus treatments (0, 15, 30 and 60 kg P/ha) were used. Nitrogen treatments were assigned to the main plots and phosphorus levels were allotted to the sub-plots. Urea (46% N) and triple superphosphate (48% P2O5) were used as sources of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Phosphorus treatments were applied at sowing, whereas nitrogen fertilizer was split into two equal doses, one was added four days after emergence and the second was three weeks after sowing.  Results of the experiments showed that application of nitrogen increased the plant height over the control. The increments were in range of 5.7% - 16.1%. Leaf area index (LAI), grain and stover yields were significantly affected by nitrogen application. The increments over control were in the range of 39% - 92.3%, 10.1% - 112.7% and 34.1% - 126.9% for LAI, grain yield and stover yield, respectively. Regarding phosphorus, the results revealed that phosphorus addition had a significant effect on plant height, LAI, grain and stover yields. The increments over control ranged from 2.4% - 11.3%, 6.3% - 17.9%, 6.7% - 24.6% and 6.8% - 35.4% for plant height, LAI, grain and stover yields, respectively. The interaction between nitrogen and phosphorus had a significant effect only on LAI and plant height at the sixth week measurement in the first and second seasons, respectively. The tallest plants were obtained from 3N × 3P treatment whereas the greatest LAI was obtained by 3N × 2P treatment