Effect of different nutrient management practices on growth and fodder yield in dual-purpose and multi cut forage sorghum

A field experiment was laid out at College of Agriculture, Vellayani during rabi 2024 to evaluate the integrated nutrient sources on fodder yield in multi cut forage and annual dual-purpose sorghum. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with 3 replications. The treatment combination included 2 varieties (V1-CSH-24 MF, V2-Telangana Jonna) and 7 levels of treatments consisting of different sources of nutrients. Considering the performance of varieties, the variety V1, CSH-24 MF proved to be the best performing variety with respect to growth and yield characters. A higher plant height of 199 cm and leaf length of 62.98 cm was registered by the variety CSH-24 MF. The variety V1, CSH -24 MF recorded the highest green fodder yield of 23.45 t ha-1 and dry fodder yield of 4.22 t ha-1. With regards to treatments, T7 (100 % recommended dose of fertiliser (RDF) of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) through organic sources + AZT + PSB) recorded higher green fodder yield of 23.86 t ha-1 and dry fodder yield of 4.29 t ha-1 and was found to be on par with T6 (100 % RDF of recommended NPK through inorganic sources + AZT + PSB). The increased plant height of 198.38 cm and leaf length of 64.16 cm was also recorded by the treatment T7 (100 % RDF of recommended NPK through organic sources + AZT + PSB). However, comparative studies evaluating integrated nutrient sources involving organic, inorganic and biofertilisers on growth and fodder yield of multi cut forage and annual dual-purpose sorghum under Kerala conditions are limited.