Effect of Tillage Depth and Pattern on Growth and Yield of Grain Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) under Rain-fed

A field experiment was carried out under rainy season (2010/11),at two locations (Khorelabeid and Kaba) in Sheikan locality, North Kordofan State, Sudan to investigate the effects of the tillage on growth and yield of grain sorghum(Sorghum bicolor L.Moench).The tillage practices treatments consist of no tillage,tillage at depth 15 and 25 cm and two tillage patterns namely:headland and continuous patterns,using chisel plough.Treatments were randomly arranged in a randomized complete block design (RBCD) with three replications. The results showed that tillage treatments had significant effect on most of the parameters measured in this study.In this respect, it was observed that increased tillage depth increased plant height, length of internode.Length of flag leaf, panicle length, number of seeds per panicle,panicle seed weight, grain yield (Kg/ha) and harvest index.The tillage depth of 25cm with head land pattern had the highest number of grains per panicle, panicle grain weight and grain yield (t/ha), while the no tillage treatment had a lesser grain yield and yield’s components.