Effects of Different Sowing Frequencies and Nitrogen Doses on the Yield Components of Silage Sorghum x Sudan Grass Hybrid (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum sudanense Mtapf.) in the Iğdır Basin

The study was conducted in 2021 to evaluate the yield and yield parameters of sorghum for silage (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum sudanense Mtapf., Hayday hybrid) under different nitrogen application rates (0, 6, 12 and 18 kg/da nitrogen application, respectively) and different row distances (5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm). The experiment was established at Igdir University Agricultural Application and Research Centre in Igdir ecological conditions according to split-plot experimental design with three replications. The data obtained from the experiment were as follows: plant height 190.9 cm and 257.3 cm; herbage yield 1756.1 kg/da and dry herbage yield 3228.5 kg/da; dry herbage yield 522.2 kg/da and 925.2 kg/da; stem ratio 69.1% to 74.8%; leaf ratio 15.3% to 74.8%; 15.3% to 20.2%; crude protein content ranged from 6.4% to 8.1%; NDF content ranged from 58.5% to 63.1%; ADF content ranged from 31.7% to 34.5%. The results showed that N application rates increased plant height, fresh herbage yield and dry matter, while decreasing the NDF ratio of the plants. In the study, row spacing did not affect dry matter, stem and leaf ratio, NDF and ADF of sorghum plants. It was concluded that 28.570 plants/da sowing and 6 kg N/da application could be applied in terms of fresh and dry matter yield under Igdir ecological conditions.