Use of a scoring technique to assess the effect of field variability on yield of pearl millet grown on three alfisols in Niger.
Within-field spatial variability of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was studied at three different sites on Alfisols in Niger. Grain yields in fields on a North-South gradient were 8-383, 2-1343, 7-815 kg/ha, with a coefficient of variation of 61, 55, and 53%, respectively. Variability was explained by soil chemical factors for only 5 to 28%. A simple method of scoring millet growth for individual hills a few weeks before harvest was tested by measuring yield variability in a field as an alternative for expensive soil chemical analyses. The median score value explained 25, 67, and 8% of the variability for the same gradient, respectively. As a verification step, map pattern comparisons of millet grain and straw yields with median score values gave low taxonomic distances (0.01-1.7), indicating significant similarities in variability. The hill scoring method is an appropriate tool to identify millet grain and straw yield variability.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article/Letter to editor biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | Alfisols, Niger, Pearl millet, Scoring technique, Spatial variability, |
| Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/use-of-a-scoring-technique-to-assess-the-effect-of-field-variabil |
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