Finger millet is one of the most neglected and underutilized crops worldwide, yet an important food cereal for millions of poor farmers in
Soil water deficits constrain productivity in Ethiopia. Farmers respond to variable onset of rain in the Central Rift Valley (CRV) of Ethiopia by dry soil planting sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] to take advantage of early rains and increase the period of crop growth before rains cease in late September or early October. Crop establishment is often unsatisfactory. The effect of dry soil planting depth for sorghum was evaluated with three water deficit scenarios on Vertisols in CRV. Dry soil planting at 5‐cm depth resulted in relatively better seedling emergence, plant survival, individual plant wt., and leaf plant−1 for all water regimes as compared with other dry planting depths. The best plant establishment (80%) occurred with a local variety planted at 5‐cm depth with no water applied for 15 d after dry soil planting followed by 30 mm applied at 5‐d intervals from 15 to 30 d after planting (W3). The worst establishment (12%) was with planting at 7‐cm depth and irrigating after planting with 30 mm of water and then adding 30 mm at 5‐d intervals from 15 to 30 d after planting (W1). Risk of failed crop establishment with dry soil planting on a Vertisol is less with 5 cm compared with other planting depths. The W3 type of water deficit, with seed lying in dry soil for 15 d before water was applied, is less detrimental to sorghum establishment and early growth, compared with rainfall after planting followed by a dry period of 15 d.
Climate is negatively affecting sorghum production in the semiarid Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Assessing variability and trends in rainfall is important to design and adapt good agricultural practices and improve sorghum productivity in the region. Therefore, the objective of this work was to assess variability and trends of rainfall in the semiarid sorghum producing areas of Rif Valley in Ethiopia. Forty years (1981-2021) historical daily rainfall data were obtained from eleven stations in semiarid Rift Valley in Ethiopia. Three and two stations were, respectively, from northern and eastern escarpments while six of the stations were from the central Rift Valley. The data were checked for quality before analysis. Since climate variability and trends are time scale dependent, analysis was conducted based on monthly, seasonal and annual time scale over the past four decades. Rainfall variability analysis were conducted using coefficient of variation (CV), precipitation concentration (PCI), standardized anomaly indices (SAI). Trend analysis were performed following Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator. Sorghum growing season for the stations were characterized using climatic features such as start and end of growing season, length of growing period, and occurrences of different levels of dry spells. The results showed in all the location in semi-arid rift valley of Ethiopia were the highest mean monthly rainfall was recorded in July, August then followed September. While the lowest mean of monthly rainfall was observed in months of November, December, and January which is drier months in studied regions. The regions of the studied were characterized by weak-bimodal rainfall with first short rainy period of March to May and the second main rainy period of June to September. Compared to the longest rainy period, the short rainy period contributes less rainfall to the annual rainfall which was also associated with high inter seasonal variability (CV ranged from 31.5 to 88%) short rain season. PCI value in studied regions in all station showed that the existence of high concentration in seasonal rainfall distribution. The non-significantly (P<0.05) increasing of rainfall in months of June and September marked as the onset and end of season respectively in regions expect some station decreases at CRV floor in September. The Sen.'s slope estimator showed the majority of the studied sites in regions non-significantly(P<0.05) decreasing trend of rainfall in short rainy season. However, in main rainy season the rainfall, onset, LGP and number of rainy days decreases non-significantly at Dheera, Metehare and Melka Werer in CRV floor and also at northern RV escapement in Kobo site. Whereas, the annual rainfall increased in most regions. For the analyzed regions, the Onset, length of growing season and number of rainy days significantly variable and in CRV floor region more variable than the two regions. The probability of dry spell length exceeding 5 days to a week being as high as 80% while dry spell length exceeding 10 days to two week being as high as 60% before the onset of main growing season (153 DOY). The studied climatic parameters and features suggest that the patterns could be difficult to understand and consequently pertaining decisions on planting date and related activities were being the face of made in high risk because of high variability and trend of climate elements. Therefore, short maturity and high yielder sorghum varieties and soil moisture harvesting techniques are critical important to the studied regions.
Soil water deficits during grain fill constrain crop production in semi-arid areas of Ethiopia. Skip-row planting is a means of saving soil water for grain fill while tie-ridging can improve soil water availability throughout the season by reducing runoff. The hypotheses were that where rainfall ceases before or during early grain fill 1) maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) yield can be increased by skip-row planting, 2) skip-row planting and tie-ridging interact positively, and 3) productivity can be further increased by planting an early maturity crop in the skip-row area. Skipping a row after planting one or two rows resulted in similar yields compared with planting all rows. Maize yield was 43% greater with tie-ridge compared with flat tillage. There was no tillage by skip-row interaction. Productivity was increased by 20% when a relatively short season bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was planted in the skipped rows of both maize and sorghum as cereal yield was not affected but bean added to productivity. Tie-ridging presents an opportunity for increasing maize yield. Skip-row planting for similar conditions is unlikely to increase productivity unless bean or another crop is planted in the skip-row area.
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