Effect of watering and seedling density on field establishment and performance of pearl millet and sorghum

The practice of transplanting seedlings from nurseries was used as a strategy to improve stand establishment in pearl millet and sorghum in a semi arid area of Zimbabwe. A nursery experiment evaluated three watering regimes namely, watering after depletion to 75%, 50% and 25% of available water capacity. The watering factor was combined with seedling density at three levels viz. 500, 750 and 1 000 plants m−2. Seedlings from the nine treatments were subsequently planted out into the field and their performance evaluated. In sorghum, moisture depletion was the only factor which significantly (P<0.01) affected yield. Soil moisture depletion to 50% gave the highest yields irrespective of seedling density in nurseries. In pearl millet, no differences in performance could be observed in any of the treatments. It was concluded that the transplanting of seedlings requires 20 to 60 I of water per square metre of nursery area. This is a useful technique to reduce the duration of cropping and presenting a better fit into short growing seasons prevalent in semi-arid areas. A 115-day sorghum cultivar (Macia) required only 67 days in the field while an 85-day pearl millet cultivar (PMV3) matured 57 days after transplanting. © 2007, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.