The seed scarcity of Sudan grass plagues the pasture industry in the livestock sector, especially in arid and semiarid regions. The current study was initiated to tackle this challenge. The study evaluates the response of the grain yield and yield components of Sudan grass to cutting numbers, potassium rates and intrarow spacing over 2 years. | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Turk J Agric For (2013) 37: 657-664 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Grain yield production of Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf) as influenced by cutting numbers, potassium rates, and intrarow spacing in a semiarid environment 1 1 1 1 1,2, Ahmed AWAD , Salah HAFIZ , Mohammed Sabry HAMMADA , Azza El-NOUBY , Salah EL-HENDAWY * 1 Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 2 Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: The seed scarcity of Sudan grass plagues the pasture industry in the livestock sector, especially in arid and semiarid regions. The current study was initiated to tackle this challenge. The study evaluates the response of the grain yield and yield components of Sudan grass to cutting numbers, potassium rates, and intrarow spacing over 2 years. A field experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block split-split design with 2 cutting numbers (no cutting and cut 1 time), 2 potassium rates (60 and 120 kg K2O ha–1), and 3 intrarow spacings (15, 20, and 25 cm between hills) as the main plot, split plot, and split-split plot, respectively. The results showed that the zero-cut treatment produced, as averaged over the 2 seasons, and higher grain yield and hay yield per hectare than the one-cut treatment, respectively. However, the latter treatment had harvest index and sum of hay and green forage yield values that were and higher than those of the zero-cut treatment, respectively. The application of potassium at a rate of 120 kg ha–1 resulted in the maximum grain yield and yield components as compared to the lower potassium rate (60 kg ha–1), with the exception of 1000-grain weight, hay yield,
