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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (3): 30-40.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2022121

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Effect of sowing rate on yield and forage quality of a Dolichos lablab-Sorghum bicolor mixture under drip irrigation in arid areas of Ningxia

Teng-fei WANG1,2(), Bin WANG1,2, Jian-qiang DENG1,2, Man-you LI1,2, Wang NI1,2, Qin FENG1,2, Yun-yun TUO3, Jian LAN1,2()   

  1. 1.College of Agriculture,Ningxia University,Yinchuan 750021,China
    2.Ningxia Grass and Animal Husbandry Engineering Technology Research Center,Yinchuan 750021,China
    3.Cofco Feed (Yinchuan) Co. ,Ltd. ,Yinchuan 750021,China
  • Received:2022-03-17 Revised:2022-04-13 Online:2023-03-20 Published:2022-12-30
  • Contact: Jian LAN

Abstract:

Effective planting methods can alleviate the problem of low forage yield and poor quality in arid areas of Ningxia. In this study, a mixture of Dolichos lablab and Sorghum bicolor was sown at five different seeding rates (S0: 0 kg·ha-1, S1: 16.5 kg·ha-1, S2: 33.0 kg·ha-1, S3: 49.5 kg·ha-1, S4: 66.0 kg·ha-1) and grown under drip irrigation. The agronomic traits of S. bicolor, the yield of the mixed sward, and the nutritional quality of forage were comprehensively analyzed in a two-year experiment. It was found that the seeding rate of the D. lablab-S. bicolor mixture significantly affected plant height, stem diameter, the stem strength at the first to the fourth internodes; The stem strength at the fifth to seventh internodes of S. bicolor; And the hay yield, crude protein yield, crude protein content, neutral detergent fiber content, acid detergent fiber content, and relative feed value of the mixed sward (P<0.05). Among these parameters, plant height, stem diameter of S. bicolor, and the hay yield and crude protein yield of the mixed sward first increased and then decreased with increasing seeding rate of the D. lablab-S. bicolor mixture. The highest values for total hay yield, crude protein yield, and relative feed value occurred in the S3 treatment (32.12 t·ha-1, 4.13 t·ha-1, and 117.30, respectively). The highest crude protein content of mixed forage (12.31%) was in the S4 treatment. According to the results of a principal component analysis, plant height, stem diameter, crude protein yield, total hay yield, strength of the stem at the first to fourth internodes, and the relative feed value of the mixed D. lablab-S. bicolor sward made the largest contributions to forage yield and quality. The treatments were ranked, from highest yield and quality to lowest, as follows: S3>S2>S4>S1>S0. Based on the yield and nutritional quality of the mixed swards, it is suggested that the optimum seeding rate of D. lablab and S. bicolor grown under drip irrigation in arid areas of Ningxia is 49.5 kg·ha-1.

Key words: Dolichos lablab, Sorghum bicolor, yield performance, nutritional quality, overall merit