Effect of different Chicken Manure Rates on Yield and Quality of Sudan Grass (Sorghum sudanense Piper.)

The present study was carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Studies, University of Kordofan, ElObeid, Sudan. To investigate the effect of different levels of chicken manure on growth, yield and quality of Sudan grass forage (Sorghum sudanense). The treatments consisted of four levels of chicken manure: control, 1.5, 3 and 6 ton/ha (CH0, CH1, CH2 and CH3). The treatments were arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The characters measured were: plant population, plant height (cm), number of leaves/ plant, fresh weight (ton/ha), dry weight (ton/ha), crude protein (%) content, fiber (%) content and carbohydrates (%) content. the results showed that there were significant differences among the treatments in most parameters under study. Chicken manure increased growth characteristics as well as forage yield. Chicken manure rate (6 ton/ha) produced higher fresh and dry forage at harvest compared to the other treatments. Also the results demonstrated that chicken manure significantly increased the percentage (%) content of crude protein and carbohydrates while decreased fiber percentage (%) concentration compared to the control. The treatment 6 ton/ha (CH3) had highest values of protein (14.12) and carbohydrate (52.74) (%) content, while the lowest values (9.97and 44.59) % content respectively, were recorded in the control. Then, based on these results we recommended that to obtain high growth, forage yield and quality from Sudan grass forage chicken manure at the rate of (6 ton/ha) should be applied.