The Effect of Plastic Mulch on Growth and Yield of Rain-fed Cowpea and Watermelon in North Kordofan State of Sudan

Nodar A. Abdelrahman¹, Elgailani A. Abdalla², Elshiekh A. Ibrahim³ and Ahmed M. El Naim^3,

¹Ministry of Agriculture, West Kordofan State, Administration of Agriculture, Elnouhod, Sudan

²Agricultural Research Corporation, Elobied Research Station, Sudan

³Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, University of Kordofan, Elobied, Sudan

Cite this paper

Nodar A. Abdelrahman, Elgailani A. Abdalla, Elshiekh A. Ibrahim and Ahmed M. El Naim. The Effect of Plastic Mulch on Growth and Yield of Rain-fed Cowpea and Watermelon in North Kordofan State of Sudan. World Journal of Agricultural Research. 2016; 4(5):139-142. doi: 10.12691/WJAR-4-5-2

Abstract

A research was carried to identify the effect of plastic mulch on growth and yield of water melon (citrullus lanatus) and cowpea ((Vigna unguiculata L.Walp).), two popular crops extensively grown in Western Sudan under rain-fed condition. The experiment was conducted during rainy seasons (2014/15-2016/16) at two locations in North Kordofan of Sudan, consisted of two treatments (covered or uncovered with thin plastic sheet) laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Plastic sheet mulching significantly increased plant height, fruit weight, fruit number and seed yield of watermelon by 30%, 70%, 17%, and 65%, respectively. In cowpea plastic sheet mulching significantly increased number of pods per plant, grain yield and 100- seed weight by 17%, 30% and 10% respectively. It can be concluded that using plastic mulch as a soil cover increased the vegetative growth and yield of watermelon and cowpea crops under marginal sandy rain-fed conditions of North Kordofan State.

Keywords

mulching, Vigna unguiculata, citrullus lanatus, sheikan locality

Copyright

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