Improvement of Sorghum Crop through Exogenous Application of Natural Growth-Promoting Substances under a Changing Climate

Wahid Ahmad, Mehmood Ali Noor, Irfan Afzal, Muhammad Amir Bakhtavar, Muhammad Mohsin Nawaz, Xuefang Sun, Baoyuan Zhou, Wei Ma and Ming Zhao
Additional contact information
Wahid Ahmad: Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, George August Göttingen University, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Mehmood Ali Noor: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Irfan Afzal: Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Muhammad Amir Bakhtavar: Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Muhammad Mohsin Nawaz: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Xuefang Sun: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Baoyuan Zhou: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Wei Ma: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China
Ming Zhao: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: High temperature during May to July is a major hurdle for production of sorghum as fodder in Pakistan, ultimately resulting in a deficit with respect to the demand of meat and milk for increasing population. A field study was conducted to investigate the impact of exogenous application of natural plant growth-promoting substances on forage yield and quality of sorghum. Seed priming and foliar application (alone or in combination) with 1% sorghum water extract (SWE), 3% moringa leaf extract (MLE) and water were applied. Two foliar applications, the first at one month after sowing and the second at 45 days after sowing were carried out. Untreated seeds were used as control. The results indicated that priming and foliar spray performed best in combination as compared to priming or foliar application alone. All MLE applications (priming plus foliar application, priming alone, foliar spray alone) enhanced growth parameters and chlorophyll contents, which ultimately improved forage yield and total dry matter production of sorghum plants. An increase in crude protein and total ash and decrease in crude fiber was also recorded in plants treated with MLE. The results of this study revealed that exogenous application of MLE at 3% concentration (priming plus foliar application, priming alone, foliar spray alone) significantly enhanced the yield through improvement in sorghum growth.

Keywords: exogenous application; moringa leaf extract; sorghum leaf extract; sorghum forage; seed priming; foliar spray (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/12/1330/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/12/1330/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:12:p:1330-:d:85400

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().