Evaluation of the potentials of supplementary irrigation for improvement of sorghum yield in Wag-Himra, North Eastern, Amhara, Ethiopia

Water is the most limiting factor for agricultural production in dry land areas. supplying of adequate water is very crucial in stablizing crop yields and increasing their production. Therefore, the experiment was conducted for two cropping seasons (2014 to 2015) at Aybra on farmer's plot in Sekota district of Wag-Himra Zone, Eastern Amhara. The objective of the experiment was to determine the net irrigation requirement and schedule of supplementary water application during moisture stress period and to improve crop water productivity of sorghum yield. The design of the experiment was random complete block design and seven treatments (C1, C2, FMSO, S1, S2, S3 and S4) with three replications were tested. The statistical analysis indicated that a significant difference in head weight, grain yield, stem diameter, and water productivity of sorghum among treatments. The analysis of variance for both years showed that there was a significant interaction effect between treatments across years on head weight, grain yield, and water productivity. Supplementing the crop with S3 and S1 treatments the application of 219.4mm and 328.4mm of irrigation water respectively at eight days interval at moisture stress time was obtained better head weight, grain yield, water productivity, and stem diameter. Therefore, this research recommended that supplementing rain-fed for sorghum production starting from the development stage (20 days after sowing down to harvesting). However, water is a limiting factor for crop production supplementing during development and mid-season stage only at eight days interval at moisture stress or rainfall is ceased.