effect of organic mulching on soil moisture, yield, and...

Research ArticleEffect of Organic Mulching on Soil Moisture Yield and YieldContributing Components of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L)

Goitom Teame1 Alemtsahay Tsegay2 and Berhanu Abrha2

1Crop Research Core Process Humera Agricultural Research Center Tigray Agricultural Research Institute Humera Ethiopia2Department of Dryland Crops and Horticultural Science Mekelle University Mekelle Ethiopia

Correspondence should be addressed to Goitom Teame goitomyafenangmailcom

Received 6 January 2017 Revised 24 March 2017 Accepted 23 April 2017 Published 8 June 2017

Academic Editor Manuel Tejada

Copyright copy 2017 Goitom Teame et alThis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licensewhich permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L) is one of the chief foreign exchange earning oil crops in Ethiopia However its productivity remainslow due to lack of appropriate agronomic practices The aim of this research was to study the effect of organic mulches on sesameproductivity and in situ moisture conservationThis experiment was carried out in Humera Agricultural Research Center WesternTigray during 2015 growing season The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicationsThere were four types of organic mulches rice straw sorghum straw sesame straw and Sudan grass were compared with controlSesame variety Setit-1 was used in the experiment The organic mulching rate of application was 10 ton haminus1 and this was appliedevenly to the soil immediately after germination Soil water content phonological characteristics yield and yield components ofsesame were collected The analyzed results indicated that organic mulching had significant effect on soil moisture content at0ndash02m 021ndash04m and 041ndash06m in every two-week interval after sowing and grain yield of sesame Sesame straw conservedhighest soil moisture content as compared with respective mulchmaterialThe highest yield (664 kg haminus1) was recorded with Sudangrass while the lowest grain yield (190 kg haminus1) was recorded with no mulch

1 Introduction

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L) is an industrial crop thatbelongs to the Pedaliaceae family It grows chiefly for its vitalseed that contains about 50 oil and 25 protein [1] Despiteits importance as source of cooking oil and foreign currencyearning sesameproductivity is very low especially in dry landarea like in Tigray This is dominantly due to moisture stressand weed infestation which can cause a yield falling of up to863 in sesame [2] Similarly sesame yield is severely affectedby a biotic factor such as drought stress [3] In relation to thisit was reported that sesame growth and development as othercrops is highly affected by water stress [4] Studies revealedthat oleic acid which is one of the major characteristics ofsesame oil decreased with different levels of water deficitInefficient utilization of water due to improper field and cropmanagement practices is another bottle neck for sesame andother cropsrsquo production in dry lands In addition to waterstress problem the effect of weed takes a lion share in sesameproduction

Mulch has a great role in soil moisture conservationthrough modification of microclimatic soil conditions Ithelps to prevent weed growth reduce evaporation andincrease infiltration of rain water during growing season [5]Research results have shown that mulch provides numerousbenefits to crop production by improving the physicalchemical and biological soil properties [6]Different researchresult showed mulch increase soil moisture through increas-ing infiltration reducing evaporation and modifying waterretention capacity of the soil [7 8] Adeoye [9] reportedhigh soil moisture content up to a depth of 60 cm in grass-mulched soil On the other hand water holding capacity ofthe soil improved through mulch decomposition and humusformation [8]

In aqua crop water productivity model by Raes et al [10]soil evaporation reduction by 50 was modeled with 100percent cover of the soil by organic mulch This is in linewith Hatfield et al [11] who also reported a 34ndash50 percentreduction in soil water evaporation as a result of crop residuemulching

HindawiInternational Journal of AgronomyVolume 2017 Article ID 4767509 6 pageshttpsdoiorg10115520174767509

2 International Journal of Agronomy

Table 1 Soil characteristics of the experimental site (presowing)

Location Humera Remark

TextureClay () 68 ClaySilt () 13Sand () 19

Soil characteristics

Total-N () 004 LowP ppm 278K ppm 628OM 098CEC meq100 g soil 30PHWater (1 25) 845 BasicECWater (1 25) 016 Nonsaline

Mekelle Soil Laboratory 2016

Different types of organic mulches have been used toobtain good crop growth and yield in crops like ground nut[12] soybean [13] sesame [14] sunflower [15] and sweetpepper [16] The purpose of this research is to determine therole of organic mulching on soil moisture conservation andsesame productivity

2 Material and Method

21 Experiment Location The field experiment was con-ducted in 2015 main growing season in Humera AgriculturalResearch Center Western zone of Tigray Ethiopia It issituated between 13∘141015840 to 14∘271015840N and 36∘271015840 to 37∘321015840E andabout 600 km from Mekelle capital city of Tigray regionalstate The dominant soil type of the area is chromic vertisol(Table 1)

22 Experimental Design and Treatment The experimen-tal design used was Randomized Complete Block Design(RCBD) with three replications and five treatments Thosetreatments were sesame straw sorghum straw rice strawSudan grass and no mulch The gross plot size was 6m2 andthe net plot sizewas 36m2The distance between the plot andblock was 1 and 15m respectively Sesame seed variety Setit-1was sown at row to row and plant to plant distance of 40 cmand 10 cm respectively The field was tilled and suppliedwith 100 kg of NPS (19N-38P

2O5+ 7S) and 50 kg of urea

fertilizer The urea was applied in split form 25 kg at sowingand 25 at flower initiation In accordance with the methodsadopted by Ramakrishna [17] and Aminu-Taiwo [18] the rateof mulches used was 6 kg per plot which is equivalent to10 tonha and was applied at row whole immediately aftergermination evenly

23 Measurements and Measurements Method

231 Soil Moisture Content Soil moisture content was deter-mined by taking fresh soil sampled from depths of 0ndash02m021minus04m and 041minus06m in the experimental field everytwo weeks Sampled fresh weight was weighed and driedin oven for 24 hours at 105∘C The gravimetric soil water

content was determined using (1) after weighing oven driedsoil sample

Soil moisture content ()

=fresh soil weight minus dry soil weight

dry soil weighttimes 100

(1)

232 Phenology and Agronomic Trait of Sesame Eachphonological stage was determined by visual observationMoreover number of capsules per plant and number of seedsper capsule were counted from five randomly selected plantsper plot Plant height is one of the growth parameters thatwas measured from five plants per plot To determine thenumber of seeds per capsule the seeds of three capsules(lower medium and uppermost position on the plant) fromeach of five plants were counted Thousand-seed weight wasdetermined by counting 1000 seeds from each plot after sundrying Seed yield of each plot was weighed in grams andconverted to area basis to determine the yield kgha

24 Data Analysis The data collected from each experimen-tal plot were subjected to analysis using appropriate software(GenStat 15 (64 bits)) [19] Treatments that show significantdifferences were subjected to mean comparison test Duncanmultiple range test (DMRT)

3 Result and Discussion

31 Effect of Mulching on SMC at Different Soil Depth andGrowth Phases

311 Effect of Mulching on SMC during 15 DAS Organicmulching had highly significant difference (119901 lt 0001) onsoil moisture content in all soil depths during 15 daysafter sowing In the upper soil depth (0ndash02m) among themulching treatments sesame and sorghum had statisticallysimilar soil moisture result so do Sudan grass and ricemulches The highest soil moisture (30) was conservedunder sesame mulch while the lowest soil moisture content(263) was conserved under Sudan grass (Table 2) In themedium soil depth (021ndash04m) also sesame and Sudan grass

International Journal of Agronomy 3

Table2Eff

ecto

fmulchingon

soilmoistu

recontentatd

ifferentsoild

epth

anddays

after

sowing

Treatm

ent

15DASSM

C30

DASSM

C45

DASSM

C60

DASSM

C75

DASSM

C0ndash

02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

Sesame

30173

158

211

216

234

252

312

309

222

235

246

343

334

352

Sorghu

m295

143

147

194

195

221

231

285

297

212

226

234

366

262

285

Rice

269

161

156

199

212

217

238

287

285

211

219

227

379

290

304

Sudangrass

263

187

172

214

216

228

248

281

295

195

221

236

376

314

286

Con

trol

177

129

121

172

178

174

199

239

215

179

193

221

236

214

235

CV(

)85

125

114

69

896

9756

62

54

83

84

83

58

52

LSD005

22

1917

1326

1620

22

1517

1118

1927

1614

83DASdays

after

sowingSM

Csoilmoistu

recontentCV

coefficiento

fvariance


(187 and 173) were conserved highest soil moisture contentwhile the lowest (161 and 143) was conserved underrice and sorghum mulching material respectively (Table 2)Moreover in the lower soil depth (041ndash06m) the highestsoil moisture was conserved in all mulching material exceptsorghum Generally all mulchingmaterial showed significantsoil moisture conservation than no mulch plot This growthstage of the crop is known as vegetative (seedling) accordingto [20]The conservedmoisture due tomulch treatments hada positive role in sesame seedling as compared to no mulchplots which had shown symptoms of water stress such aswilting and leaf rolling This result is in line with da Silva etal [21] who reported that germination and start of vegetativegrowth are more sensitive to water stress in sesame

312 Effect ofMulching on SMCduring 30DAS Soilmoisturecontent was influenced (119901 lt 0001) by mulching treatmentin all soil depth during 30 days after sowing In the uppersoil depth (0ndash02m) the highest soil moisture (214 and211) was conserved by Sudan grass and sesame whilethe lowest (199 and 194) was conserved by rice andsorghum correspondingly (Table 2) All mulching treatmentconserved similar soil moisture content excluding sorghumin the medium soil depth (021minus04m) On the other hand allmulching material conserved similar amount soil moisturein the lower soil depth (041ndash06m) This growth period isknown as vegetative in sesame (juvenile and prereproductive)[20] The soil moisture conserved by the mulching treatmentwas vital for number of leaves plant height and other growthparameters whereas the lowest soil moisture conserved bybare plots was responsible for poor growth performanceThisresult is in line with da Silva et al [21] who reported thatgermination and start of vegetative growth are more sensitiveto water stress in sesame

313 Effect of Mulching on SMC during 45 DAS The analysisof variance revealed that mulching treatment was highlyinfluenced (119901 lt 0001) on soil moisture content in alldepth throughout 45 days after sowing Allmulchingmaterialhad similarly highest moisture conservation whereas the nomulch treatment had conserved the lowest in the upperdepth (0ndash02m) In the medium soil depth (021ndash04m) thehighest soil moisture was conserved under sesame mulchplots while the lowest was conserved under sorghum riceand Sudan grass On the contrary all mulching treatmenthad similar moisture conservation ability except rice in thelower soil depth (041ndash06m)This period of sesame growth iscalled prereproductive (50 flowering) by [20] All mulchingtreatment conserved nearly the same amount of water thatenables them to convert their produced flower to capsulewhile the stressed treatment exhibited flower abortion andpoor capsule formation (gab between nodes) This result isin line with Langham [20] who reported moisture stressedsesame plant did not form auxiliary flowers

314 Effect ofMulching on SMCduring 60DAS Soilmoisturecontent was highly influenced (119901 lt 0001) due to mulchtreatment in all depth during 60 days after sowing There

was no soil moisture variation among mulching treatmentin all three depths except that of bare soil (no mulch) Thisperiod of growth in sesame is called reproductive stage by[20] The mulch treated plots produce highest plant heightwith capsule (without gab) while the stressed plots producethe shortest plant height and lowest capsule formation inrelation to moisture conserved

315 Effect of Mulching on SMC during 75 DAS The analysisof variance revealed that soil moisture content highly isinfluenced by mulching treatment in all soil depth during75 days after sowing In the upper soil depth (0ndash02m) thehighest soil moisture (379 376 and 366) was conservedin all mulching while the lowest soil moisture (343) wasconserved in sesame mulch plots (Table 2) In the mediumsoil depth the highest soil moisture content was under sesameand followed by Sudan grass while the lowest soil moisturecontent was conserved under rice In the lower soil depth(041minus06m) the highest soil moisture content was conservedunder sesame and followed by rice straw while the lowestsoil moisture content was conserved under Sudan grass andsorghum straw The soil moisture conserved by mulchingtreatment had important role in grain filling as compared tono mulch treatment

32 Effect of Mulching on Phenology andAgronomic Trait of Sesame

321 Days to 50 Flowering The current finding did notshow significant effect (119901 gt 005) of organic mulching on50 flowering However no mulch plots flowered earlierthan mulch plots This could be due to weed suppressionand moisture conservation ability that let mulched plot delayflowering This is in line with Van Donk et al [22] whoreported a delay flowering with the application of differentlevel of mulch as compared to no mulch On the contraryKomla [16] reported insignificant effect of mulching on 50flowering in the dry condition

322 Days to 90Maturity The present result revealed thatall mulching materials showed insignificance influence onmaturity except sesame mulching (119901 lt 005) The longestperiod taken for maturity (94 days) was recorded undersesame straw and the lowest periodwas recorded in nomulchplots (90 days) (Table 3) Mulch material had an influenceon reducing environmental stress such as water stress byconserving moisture that serves for the plant to facilitategrowth and development

323 Plant Height (cm) Mulching in this study showedsignificant difference (119901 lt 005) on plant height The maxi-mum plant height (84 cm) was measured under sesame strawmulch even it is statistically did not differ under Sudanrsquos grassand sorghum straw whereas the lowest (54 cm) was scoredunder no mulch (Table 3) The highest plant height recordedfor sesame straw Sudanrsquos grass and rice mulches could bedue to better soil water content that was conserved Thisconserved moisture was essential for nutrient transporting


Table 3 Effect of mulching organic mulching on phenology yield and yield component of sesame

Mulch TreatmentsDF DM PH NCP NSPC TSW GY (kgha)

Sudan grass 400 929 830 375 400 38 6640Sesame straw 400 939 850 354 430 35 525Sorghum straw 410 924 790 363 450 34 520Rice straw 410 922 740 263 390 32 470Control 380 904 540 228 340 32 190CV () 70 12 45 147 61 54 76LSD 005 27 11 16 63 24 02 353DF = days to 50 flowering DM = days to 90maturity PH = plant height (cm) BR = number of branches per plant NCP = number of capsules per plantNSPC = number of seeds per capsule TSW = thousand-seed weight (g) and GY = grain yield

translocation of assimilate cell division and cell differenti-ation So plants that grow on mulch treatment had enoughsoil moisture to support the plant growth while plants thatgrow under no mulch were suffered from moisture stressand become shorter This result is in line with Amoghein etal [15] who noted tallest plant height in sunflower mulchedwith rye than no mulch plot In addition Ozkan and Kulak[4] reported maximum (52 cm) and minimum sesame plantheight (30 cm) at soil water content of field capacity (FC) and025 of FC respectively

324 Number of Capsules per Plant All mulching treatmentstatistically had nearly similar number of capsules per plantexcept for rice straw The higher mean number of capsulesper plant (38) was scored under Sudan grass mulch whilethe lowest (23 and 263) was scored under no mulch and ricestraw (Table 3) This could be due to the conserved amountof water on mulched plot which was essential for biologicaland physiological process of the plant such as transportingof nutrient from the soil via the root and translocation ofassimilate to the sink from the source On the contrary ricestraw did not convert its flower effectively to capsule like thatof sesame Sudan grass and sorghum mulches This findingis in line with Ajibola et al [14] who noted that elephant grasshad positive effect on sesame pod number per plant (68) ascompared with no mulch (30) Similar result was reported byLangham [20] moisture stressed sesame plants did not formauxiliary flowers that produce capsule Rice straw mulchedtreatment scored 17 time of podsplant as compared with nomulched plot in ground nut [17]

325 Number of Seeds per Capsule The result showed sig-nificant effect (119901 lt 005) of organic mulching on numberof seeds per capsule Higher number of seeds per capsule(45) was scored under sorghum straw although statisticallysimilar with sesame straw while the lowest number seedsper capsule (34) were scored under no mulch (Table 3) Thehighest number of seeds per capsule recorded for sorghumand sesame could be due to more moisture conserved inthe soil which consequently facilitates the translocation ofassimilates from source to sink This is in line with Ozkanand Kulak [4] who reported higher number of seeds per podin sesame (47) under higher moisture content and the lowest

(38) scored under water deficit level of irrigation MoreoverKim et al [23] reported that drought stress extremely reducedseed yield per plant in sesame

326 Thousand-Seed Weight The analysis of variance indi-cated highly significant difference (119901 lt 001) of thousand-seed weight among the mulching materials Higher thou-sand-seed weight (38 g) was measured under Sudan grassand followed by sesame straw (35 g) while lowest thousand-seed weight (32 g) was measured under no mulch (Table 3)This result is in conformity with Kang et al [13] who foundhighest weight (11 g) from 100 soybean seed under bed landpreparationwithmulchwhile the lowest (105 g)was recordedunder no mulch (flat sown) Ozkan and Kulak [4] recordedhigher seed weight (4 g) at field capacity irrigation whilethe lowest (3 g) was recorded at deficit irrigation in sesameSimilarly Masoud [24] noted that water stress reduced soy-bean seed weight from 33 to 31 g This variation in seedweight could be due to the role moisture conserved by thosemulching material (Table 3) in the physiology of the plantsuch as facilitating nutrient transportation and assimilatetranslocation

327 Effect of Mulching on Grain Yield The analysis of vari-ance showed highly significant (119901 lt 001) difference betweenorganic mulches for yield Higher seed yield (664 kg haminus1)was recorded under Sudan grass mulch followed by sesamestraw and sorghummulch plots (Table 3) On the other handthe lowest yield (190 kg haminus1) was scored under no mulchOrganic mulches conserved more soil moisture because ofincreased infiltration and better retention and suffocate weedgrowth that facilitated a better crop growth and developmentand resulted in higher yield This result is in line with Ajibola[14] who observed improved sesame yield (185 kg haminus1) inplots mulched with elephant grass while the lowest yield(57 kg haminus1) was recorded on control Moreover significantyield improvement with dry grass mulch compared with nomulch was reported by [25]

4 Conclusion

The results of the investigation indicated that organicmulching has influence on soil moisture content at different


stages and yield of sesame as the yield increased with mulchcompared to no mulch Sudan grass sesame and sorghummulches had the higher soil moisture content at differentstages which resulted in better growth and yield of sesame

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Tigray Agricultural ResearchInstitute Humera Agricultural Research Center MekelleUniversity and SBN Project for providing the financialassistance and other facilities for the completion of this studyThe authors also thank the colleagues who supported themduring the study

References

[1] D Burden ldquoSesame Profile Organic Farming 2005rdquo cited 2014Jan 2 Available from httpwwwdarcofdk

[2] M Amare G Woldewahid and J Sharma ldquoSesame cropsversus weeds when is the critical period of weed controlrdquoin Proceedings of the 9th African Crop Science African CropScience Society Cape Town South Africa October 2009

[3] B Kuol M J Janssens and A Abdalla Breeding for DroughtTolerance in Sesame (Sesamum indicum)

[4] A Ozkan and M Kulak ldquoEffects of water stress on growth oilyield fatty acid composition and mineral content of Sesamumindicumrdquo Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences vol 23 no 6pp 1686ndash1690 2013

[5] Y-J Yang R S Dungan A M Ibekwe C Valenzuela-SolanoD M Crohn and D E Crowley ldquoEffect of organic mulches onsoil bacterial communities one year after applicationrdquo Biologyand Fertility of Soils vol 38 no 5 pp 273ndash281 2003

[6] A J Cooper ldquoRoot temperature and plant growth a reviewrdquoCommonw Bur Hortic Plant Crops Res Rev 1973

[7] R Lal ldquoSoil temperature soil moisture and maize yield frommulched and unmulched tropical soilsrdquo Plant and Soil vol 40no 1 pp 129ndash143 1974

[8] S Ji and P W Unger ldquoSoil water accumulation under differentprecipitation potential evaporation and straw mulch condi-tionsrdquo Soil Science Society of America Journal vol 65 no 2 pp442ndash448 2001

[9] K Adeoye ldquoInfluence of grass mulch on soil temperature soilmoisture and yield of maize and gero millet in a savanna zonesoilrdquo Samaru Journal of Agricultural Research 1984

[10] D Raes P Steduto T C Hsiao and E Fereres ldquoAquacrop-TheFAO crop model to simulate yield response to water II mainalgorithms and software descriptionrdquo Agronomy Journal vol101 no 3 pp 438ndash447 2009

[11] J L Hatfield T J Sauer and J H Prueger ldquoManaging soils toachieve greater water use efficiencyrdquo Agronomy Journal vol 93no 2 pp 271ndash280 2001

[12] P De A K Chakravarti P K Chakraborty andA ChakrabortyldquoStudy on the efficacy of some bio resources as mulch for soilmoisture conservation and yield of rain fed groundnut (Arachishypogaea)rdquoArchives of Agronomy and Soil Science vol 51 no 3pp 247ndash252 2005

[13] J Kang S Avtar and KManinder ldquoStudies on growth and yieldof soybean (glycine max l) under different planting methodsand fertility levelsrdquo Indian Journal of Legume Research vol 35no 3 pp 265ndash267 2012

[14] A Ajibola T Modupeola and A Adenuga ldquoEffect of differentweed control practices on growth and yield of sesame in south-west Nigeriardquo Journal of Biological and Chemical Research vol31 no 2 pp 1093ndash1100 2014

[15] M B Amoghein A T Tobeh A Gholipouri S J Somarin andMGhasemi ldquoEffect of cover crop in control of weed density andsome qualitative and quantitative characteristics of sunflowerrdquoInternational Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences vol 5 no12 p 1318

[16] A N Komla Effect of Organic Mulch on Growth and Yield ofSweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum L) University of Ghana 2013

[17] A RamakrishnaMTHoang P SWani andTD Long ldquoEffectof mulch on soil temperature moisture weed infestation andyield of groundnut in northern Vietnamrdquo Field Crops Researchvol 95 no 2 pp 115ndash125 2006

[18] B R Aminu-Taiwo A A Idowu O O Alamu O W Olaniyiand O O Olufunmi ldquoInfluence of mulch materials on pop-ulation of plant parasitic nematode growth and yield of okra(Abelmoschus esculentus LMoench)rdquo Journal of Agriculture andVeterinary Science vol 7 no 4 pp 12ndash17 2014

[19] T J A Bruce G I Aradottir L E Smart et al ldquoThe first cropplant genetically engineered to release an insect pheromone fordefencerdquo Scientific Reports vol 5 article 11183 2015

[20] D R Langham ldquoPhenology of sesamerdquo in Issues in New Cropsand New Uses Janick and Whipkey Eds pp 144ndash182 ASHSPress Alexandria VA USA 2007

[21] R T da Silva B A D Oliveira M D Fatima D M AGuimaraes and D A Sandro ldquoPhysiological quality of sesameseeds produced from plants subjected to water stressrdquo RevistaCiencia Agronomica vol 47 no 4 pp 643ndash648 2016

[22] S J Van Donk D T Lindgren D M Schaaf J L Petersenand D D Tarkalson ldquoWood chip mulch thickness effects onsoil water soil temperature weed growth and landscape plantgrowthrdquo Journal of Applied Horticulture vol 13 no 2 pp 91ndash95 2011

[23] K S Kim S H Park andMA Jenks ldquoChanges in leaf cuticularwaxes of sesame (Sesamum indicumL) plants exposed to waterdeficitrdquo Journal of Plant Physiology vol 164 no 9 pp 1134ndash11432007

[24] S MMasoud ldquoThe effects of water deficit during growth stagesof canola (Brassica napus L)rdquo American Eurasian Journal ofAgricultural and Environmental Sciences vol 2 pp 417ndash4222007

[25] J M Adesina K O Sanni L A Afolabi and A F EledumaldquoEffect of variable rate of poultry manure on the growth andyield of pepper (Capsicum annum) in south western NigeriardquoAcademia Arena vol 6 no 1 pp 9ndash13 2014

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Table 1 Soil characteristics of the experimental site (presowing)

Location Humera Remark

TextureClay () 68 ClaySilt () 13Sand () 19

Soil characteristics

Total-N () 004 LowP ppm 278K ppm 628OM 098CEC meq100 g soil 30PHWater (1 25) 845 BasicECWater (1 25) 016 Nonsaline

Mekelle Soil Laboratory 2016

Different types of organic mulches have been used toobtain good crop growth and yield in crops like ground nut[12] soybean [13] sesame [14] sunflower [15] and sweetpepper [16] The purpose of this research is to determine therole of organic mulching on soil moisture conservation andsesame productivity

2 Material and Method

21 Experiment Location The field experiment was con-ducted in 2015 main growing season in Humera AgriculturalResearch Center Western zone of Tigray Ethiopia It issituated between 13∘141015840 to 14∘271015840N and 36∘271015840 to 37∘321015840E andabout 600 km from Mekelle capital city of Tigray regionalstate The dominant soil type of the area is chromic vertisol(Table 1)

22 Experimental Design and Treatment The experimen-tal design used was Randomized Complete Block Design(RCBD) with three replications and five treatments Thosetreatments were sesame straw sorghum straw rice strawSudan grass and no mulch The gross plot size was 6m2 andthe net plot sizewas 36m2The distance between the plot andblock was 1 and 15m respectively Sesame seed variety Setit-1was sown at row to row and plant to plant distance of 40 cmand 10 cm respectively The field was tilled and suppliedwith 100 kg of NPS (19N-38P

2O5+ 7S) and 50 kg of urea

fertilizer The urea was applied in split form 25 kg at sowingand 25 at flower initiation In accordance with the methodsadopted by Ramakrishna [17] and Aminu-Taiwo [18] the rateof mulches used was 6 kg per plot which is equivalent to10 tonha and was applied at row whole immediately aftergermination evenly

23 Measurements and Measurements Method

231 Soil Moisture Content Soil moisture content was deter-mined by taking fresh soil sampled from depths of 0ndash02m021minus04m and 041minus06m in the experimental field everytwo weeks Sampled fresh weight was weighed and driedin oven for 24 hours at 105∘C The gravimetric soil water

content was determined using (1) after weighing oven driedsoil sample

Soil moisture content ()

=fresh soil weight minus dry soil weight

dry soil weighttimes 100

(1)

232 Phenology and Agronomic Trait of Sesame Eachphonological stage was determined by visual observationMoreover number of capsules per plant and number of seedsper capsule were counted from five randomly selected plantsper plot Plant height is one of the growth parameters thatwas measured from five plants per plot To determine thenumber of seeds per capsule the seeds of three capsules(lower medium and uppermost position on the plant) fromeach of five plants were counted Thousand-seed weight wasdetermined by counting 1000 seeds from each plot after sundrying Seed yield of each plot was weighed in grams andconverted to area basis to determine the yield kgha

24 Data Analysis The data collected from each experimen-tal plot were subjected to analysis using appropriate software(GenStat 15 (64 bits)) [19] Treatments that show significantdifferences were subjected to mean comparison test Duncanmultiple range test (DMRT)

3 Result and Discussion

31 Effect of Mulching on SMC at Different Soil Depth andGrowth Phases

311 Effect of Mulching on SMC during 15 DAS Organicmulching had highly significant difference (119901 lt 0001) onsoil moisture content in all soil depths during 15 daysafter sowing In the upper soil depth (0ndash02m) among themulching treatments sesame and sorghum had statisticallysimilar soil moisture result so do Sudan grass and ricemulches The highest soil moisture (30) was conservedunder sesame mulch while the lowest soil moisture content(263) was conserved under Sudan grass (Table 2) In themedium soil depth (021ndash04m) also sesame and Sudan grass


Table2Eff

ecto

fmulchingon

soilmoistu

recontentatd

ifferentsoild

epth

anddays

after

sowing

Treatm

ent

15DASSM

C30

DASSM

C45

DASSM

C60

DASSM

C75

DASSM

C0ndash

02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

Sesame

30173

158

211

216

234

252

312

309

222

235

246

343

334

352

Sorghu

m295

143

147

194

195

221

231

285

297

212

226

234

366

262

285

Rice

269

161

156

199

212

217

238

287

285

211

219

227

379

290

304

Sudangrass

263

187

172

214

216

228

248

281

295

195

221

236

376

314

286

Con

trol

177

129

121

172

178

174

199

239

215

179

193

221

236

214

235

CV(

)85

125

114

69

896

9756

62

54

83

84

83

58

52

LSD005

22

1917

1326

1620

22

1517

1118

1927

1614

83DASdays

after

sowingSM

Csoilmoistu

recontentCV

coefficiento

fvariance






















4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References




























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology


























Table2Eff

ecto

fmulchingon

soilmoistu

recontentatd

ifferentsoild

epth

anddays

after

sowing

Treatm

ent

15DASSM

C30

DASSM

C45

DASSM

C60

DASSM

C75

DASSM

C0ndash

02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

021ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

0ndash02m

21ndash0

4m

041ndash0

6m

Sesame

30173

158

211

216

234

252

312

309

222

235

246

343

334

352

Sorghu

m295

143

147

194

195

221

231

285

297

212

226

234

366

262

285

Rice

269

161

156

199

212

217

238

287

285

211

219

227

379

290

304

Sudangrass

263

187

172

214

216

228

248

281

295

195

221

236

376

314

286

Con

trol

177

129

121

172

178

174

199

239

215

179

193

221

236

214

235

CV(

)85

125

114

69

896

9756

62

54

83

84

83

58

52

LSD005

22

1917

1326

1620

22

1517

1118

1927

1614

83DASdays

after

sowingSM

Csoilmoistu

recontentCV

coefficiento

fvariance






















4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References




























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology














































4 Conclusion






Acknowledgments


References




























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology





























Acknowledgments


References




























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology



























Journal of




Agronomy





Microbiology

























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