Effects of micro-water harvesting techniques on sesame growth, yield and soil moisture on clay soil in rain fed area

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is the major cash crop yearly grown in rain fed areas as alternative to Sorghum crop, but their grain yield is remarkably reduced by soil moisture stress when cultivated in cracking clay soil under semi-arid climate. This require employing good Vertisol water management practices that conserve moisture during dry spell period and excess moisture during wet periods. Possible practice to adopt is to utilize relevant water harvesting technique. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the performance of three water harvesting methods namely: semi-circular bund, ridge and furrow, and sowing on flat soil surface, on soil moisture distribution and Sesame crop growth attributes (Days to 50% flowering, days to 90%maturity, number of branches per plant, and plant height). Yield Attributes (number of seeds per capsule, thousand seed weight,) and seed yield (Weight per unit area). The field study was conducted at El Migrih in Butana rain fed area during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 growing seasons in vertisol soil type. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications using variety Khidir. Statistical analysis revealed that water harvesting techniques had a significant effect on soil moisture and agronomic parameters. The ridge and furrow method conserved best soil moisture resulting in the highest sesame seed yield (548 kg ha-1) while the lowest yield (390 kg ha -1) was obtained with flat traditional method.

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No. Braches/plant: Semi-circular vs Flat vs Ridge and FurrowClose ×

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Initial and Seedling and more: Semi-circular vs Flat vs Ridge & FurrowClose ×

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Introduction

Sesame is produced as main cash crop mainly in the rain-fed areas within the central clay plains of Sudan where research is limited by funding and staff. This producing area (2.4 million hectares annually in Northern Gadaref "300-400 mm rain", Central Gadaref "400-500 mm rain") has limited rainfall which is erratic in nature and of uneven distribution which results in soil moisture stress when accompanied by high evaporation. Annual yield of sesame (0.274 t/ha) are by far below the international average (0.512 t/ha). Available data showed that yields of sesame progressively declined with time (Elleuch et al., 2011) [7] . Similarly, moisture stress could have resulted when transpiration of water exceeding the rate of absorption. Sesame is planted, annually, in about (2.4 million hectares). The Central Clay Plain is part of the guild of east Africa and dominated by vertisols are renowned by their high difficulties in water management for the soil is hard when dry and sticky when it is wet. Sesame grain yield is easily affected by soil moisture stress in semi-arid climate. Sarhadi, and Sharif, (2014) [22] and Nimir, (2002) [24] both confirm Sesame sensitivity to water shortage by studying effect of deficit irrigation on sesame growth, yield and yield Sesame crop is characterized by its high sensitivity to water stress at its early growth phases (germination and seedling -Boureima et al., 2011) [2] and at reproductive stage (Nilanthi et al. 2015) [18] . Consequently, searching for relevant water harvesting techniques and cultural operations that conserve moisture during dry period and drain excess moisture during wet periods is critically needed. Therefore, in this study, three land water harvesting techniques (WHTs) are proposed as ways for land configuration and to be compared on their effect on sesame productivity. These are: semicircular bund, ridge and furrow, and sowing on flat. Although other cultural practices such as weeding fertilization and tillage have a great influence on sesame crop performance and yield they will be kept consistent and same in all conducted trials.

Materials and Methods

Materials and Methods

Study Area

The experiment was conducted in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 growing seasons at El Gadambalyia in Butana rain fed area located between (latitudes 13°45′ and 14 ° 15′ N and longitudes 34°45′ and 35°) The soil is cracking vertisol which is sticky when wet and hard when dry with low infiltration rate (2-3 mm/hr), low nitrogen content (0.212%), low organic matter (1.4%) (El Abbas, et al., 2017) [6] . The ranges of field capacity, wilting point, and bulk density were 31.69-32.38%, 21.20-21.53%, and 1.31-1.37 gm/cm respectively, and water holding capacity is high (Table 1.0).

Treatment	Days to 50% flowering	Days to 90% Maturity	No. Braches/plant	Plant Height (cm)
Semi-circular	42	93 a	2.7	78 a
Flat	43	94 b	2.6	69b
Ridge and Furrow	41	92 a	3.0	75a
Cv. %	2.3	1.0	7.5	6.1
LSd. (0.05)	3	1.9	0.7	0.9

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Crop Growth Attributes (Days to flowering, and maturity, number of branches per plant, and plant height) for the different WHTs

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Layer	Field	Wilting	Bulk	EC	pH	Lime	Clay	Sand	Silt	Texture
thickness	capacity	point	density	(dS / m)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)	(%)
(cm)	(%)	(%)	(gm /cm3)
0 - 30	31.94	21.53	1.31	0.200	8.7	20.22	61.64	8.85	29.51	Clay
30 - 60	31.69	21.20	1.32	0.165	7.7	20.03	66.06	8.56	25.35	Clay
60 - 90	32.38	21.53	1.37	0.156	7.5	19.45	66.98	8.76	24.26	Clay

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Physical properties of the soil of the study area

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Experimental treatments, design and cultural practices

The experiment was made in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Treatments includes: semi-circular bund, ridge and furrow, and sowing on flat soil surface. The dimensions of the semi-circular bund (Critchley and Siegert, 1991) [4] are: height: 0.2 to 0.5 m, base width: 0.70 m, side slopes: 3: 1, crest width: 0.1-0.25 m, and diameter: 12 m-40 m. The ridge and furrow are with a furrow depth of 30 cm; furrow spacing at 0.8 m and bed height is 30 cm from soil surface. The flat land sowing is typical to farmer practice using wide level disc machine. These water harvesting techniques were intended to configure the land for maximizing rainfall infiltration, minimizing erosion, and reduction of total runoff to facilitates drainage and finally improves water use efficiency. A spacing distance of 1.5 m was kept between blocks between and 1.0 m between plots inside each block. Khidir sesame variety was sown after field was plowed with disc harrow, leveled and shaped according to specifications of the intended water harvesting technique. Other cultural practices (Seed rate, weeding, fertilizer) as recommended by Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) is kept the same for all treatments (Ahmed, 1998, Loggale. 2018) [1,14] .

Data Collection

Data collected includes crop data (growth stages, Yield and yield components), and Soil moisture data).

Crop data

Crop growth stages were determined by visual observation and guided by Doorenbos et al. (1979) [3] . 1. Initial stage (from planting to initiation of seedlings and ends after 15 days from sowing). 2. Establishment of Seedlings to vegetative stage (after 30 days from sowing). 3. Vegetative stage (after 50 days from sowing). 4. Flowering stage (after 70 days from sowing and when 50% of plants flower).

The crop growth components (Number of branches per plant, number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per capsule and plant height) were determined from randomly selected five plants per plot. Crop growth rate was determined by counting days to 50% flowering and days to 90% maturity. The yield components (number of seeds per capsule, thousand seed weight, and seed yield as weight per area) were determined after harvesting: For number of seeds per capsule, the seeds of three capsules (Lower, medium, and uppermost position on the plant) from each of five plants were counted. 1000 seeds number and weight were determined from each plot after sun drying. Seed yield per plot was weighed in grams per plot unit area (kg/ha).

Soil moisture data

The gravimetric oven dry method was used to determine soil moisture from a profile of one meter depth at interval of 0.2 m using an auger. Data was replicated three times per plot, at two weeks interval. Soil data were taken after 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 day from sowing.

Data Analysis

Collected data was analyzed by descriptive statistics using Statistic 10 software to determine analysis of variance using the least significant difference of 5% and, mean separation using least significance difference (DB Duncan, 1955) [5] . [10,9] . 1.0 shows analysis of variance for days to flowering determined for the various WHTs and illustrated an insignificant effect (p>0.05) of WHT on the 50% flowering. The ridge and furrow and took shorter period (41 days) for the 50% flowering, while the longer days to the 50% flowering were needed for flat land sowing.

Results and Discussion

Conservation and availability of moisture retained by ridge and furrows may be the cause of speeding flowering processes leading to early maturing (Figure 1). This result agrees with Reddy et al., (2009) [20] and Goitom et al.

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Days to 50% flowering achieved by various WHTs

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(2021) [9] . Early maturity as proxy-indicator of healthy growth is achieved by ridge and furrow, followed by semi-circular bund, and the latest is sowing on flat soil surface. This result is in line with days to flowering (Figure 1.0). The differences between ridge and furrow, and semi-circular bund are not significant (p<0.05) but they both differ significantly from sowing on flat (Table 1.0).

c. Number of branches per plant:

The data in table1.0 indicated that the all WHTs didn't show a significant difference (p>0.05) on the number of branches per plant. The highest number of branches (3.0) was recorded by ridge and furrow and the lowest (2.6) was recorded under the flat land WHT (Figure 3.0). This is may be taken as proxyindicator of more yield (Goitom et al. 2021) [9] .

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Number of branches per plant developed by the studied

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As given in Table 1.0 it is evident that plant height showed significant differences at (p<0.05) between WHTs treatments. The minimum plant height (69 cm) was recorded on the flat land while that measured by Semicircular and Plant Height are higher but not significantly (p>0.05) different from each other (Figure 4). This result is typical to the results obtained for days to maturity. Plant height is a yield component that is affected by, pests and disease, and weed infestation, and stress by in excess or deficit water. It is evident from figure 4 that capability of WHT to conserve soil moisture can be expressed by plant height and is rank the WHTs in a descending order as Flat (69 cm), Ridge and Furrow (75 cm), and Semicircular (78 cm). This result is the same to that stated by Goitom et al. (2021) [9] . [12,11,9] . Consequently, the performance of the three WHTs with respect to yield and yield attributes (No Capsule per plant, No Seeds per Capsule, Seed weight, and Grain Yield) is depicted in table 2.0.

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Recorded plant height (cm) with the three WHTs

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Treatment	No Capsule / plant	No Seeds / Capsule	Seed weight	Grain Yield Kg / ha
Semicircular	32.5 ab	41 a	3.3 a	454 b
Flat	29.3 b	39 a	3.2 a	390 c
Ridge and Furrow	33.9 a	43 a	3.4 a	548 a
Cv %	7.5	4.9	3.0	17.0
LSd (0.05)	9.5	4.5	0.3	23.7

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Yield and Yield Attributes obtained by WHTs

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Climate Element	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Min Temp (C)	16.81	18.27	21.20	24.52	26.37	27.11	24.39	23.92	24.63	24.00	21.05	17.68
Average Temp (C)	24.54	27.00	30.18	33.22	34.18	33.43	29.82	29.23	31.89	31.94	28.75	25.20
Max Temp (C)	32.26	35.12	38.56	41.91	41.99	39.74	34.85	34.54	39.14	39.87	36.44	32.72
RH (%)	14.89	10.37	7.42	6.68	11.53	17.25	25.96	28.73	21.86	14.73	12.70	15.96
Wind (m/s)	1.94	2.04	2.03	1.77	1.64	2.19	2.28	2.04	1.66	1.42	1.83	1.87
RF (mm)	0.02	0.00	0.60	1.49	12.38	18.75	76.75	100.48	28.83	9.15	2.54	0.00
Solar	20.69	23.61	26.17	27.42	25.09	24.16	20.30	20.07	21.33	20.94	20.80	19.46

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The trial was located in an arid zone; where winter is mild and the summer is dry

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i. Number of capsules per plant: Table 2.0 showed significant differences (p<0.05) on capsules number per plant with different WHTs. The highest number of capsules (33.9) was recorded at the ridge and furrow WHT and it is significantly higher than measured in flat sowing but do not differ significantly from capsules of semi-circular bund WHT. However, Malik et al., (2003) [17] , and Goitom et al.

(2021) [9] gave similar results. 2.0 shows that there is no significant difference (p>0.05) in number of seeds per capsule recorded for the three WHTs. Figure 6 shows that the highest number of seeds per capsule is found with Ridge and furrow method, followed by semicircular bud and this result is in agreement with Malik et al., (2003) [17] and Goitom et al. (2021) [9] . 2). According to figure 7 the highest thousand seed weight (3.4 g) was recorded at the ridge and furrow, followed by semicircular bund (3.3 g) and the least is noted for sowing on flat (3.2 g). This is in line with Malik et al., (2003) [17] and Goitom et al. (2021) [9] . 2.0 indicates that there is significant difference (p<0.05) in the yield obtained by WHTs. The highest yield (548 Kg/ha) was measured for Ridge and Furrow followed by semicircular bund (548 Kg/ha) and then sowing on flat (390 Kg/ha). In a similar study, Goitom et al. (2021) [9] reported that the highest sesame seed yield (558 kg ha) was recorded at ridge and furrow, while the lowest (400 kg ha -1 ) was found at the flat land configuration method.

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Thousand seed weight obtained by WHTs

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Number of seeds per capsule for the studied WHTs

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The high yield obtained by Ridge and furrow method and the minimum yield with conventional application method is in agreement with Hailu et al., (2018) [11] and Goitom et al.

(2021) [9] . The yield values for sowing on flat is above the average yield recorded for the central clay plains of Sudan (274 Kg/ha), while the yields recorded for Ridge and Furrow and semicircular bund are higher than the international average (512 Kg/ha). Reddy et al., (2009) [20] , Goitom et al. (2021) [9] and Rajput et al., (2009) [19] attributed the highest yield values obtained under the Ridge and Furrow to be due to the high efficiency build in the water harvesting techniques to conserve soil moisture resulting in higher plants height and more branches, large number of capsules per plant, and number of seeds per capsule. [23,9] . During the growth period of vegetative growth to flowering (50 DAS) and in the growth period of flowering to grain filling stage (70 DAS) the WHTs there significant differences in WHTs of store water with least amount is retained by fat soil surface (its shape provide no storage facility). During grain filling stage (90 DAS) the high water stored by both ridge and furrow and semi-circular bund resulted in generating high crop grain yield. This result agrees with Reddy et al., (2009) [20] who claimed that the maximum yield obtained by the ridge and furrow technique is attributed to the technique capability to store high water reserve. Likewise in a typical study conducted by Goitom et al. (2021) [9] indicated that the ridge and furrow methods conserved best soil moisture for highest plant and seed yield performance. Ns=not significant; Sd significant For vertisols of central clay plains of Sudan Farbrother (1987) [8] reported that soil profile moisture capacity is 93 mm, which need to be filled during each irrigation event. As given in Figure 9 shows that the variation of the moisture of the whole soil profile along the length of the growing season follow a curve of bell shape showing lower retention during early stage and increase in water accumulated in the soil profile till the plant reach full canopy and then the stored water starts to diminish by rise of crop water depletion due to increase in crop evapotranspiration (Roa, and Raju, 1991 and Goitom et al. 2021) [21,9] . [15,9] , and Keteku et al., 2020) [13] . Typical to the results depicted in figure 9 Reddy et al., (2009) [20] reported the highest moisture conservation efficiency obtained by Ridge and Furrows compared to the semi-circular or flat land configuration at 30, 70 and 90 days after sowing. Likewise, Hailu et al., (2018) [11] made study of nine treatments with three levels of irrigation water for identifying optimum soil moisture stress for sesame to determine appropriate water-saving irrigation methods and also productivity under limited water resource conditions. Hailu et al., (2018) [11] concluded that the conventional furrow application method is best practice of soil moisture -saving strategies to improve sesame yield

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Variation of soil moisture along the length of the growing season by the different WHTs

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Conclusion

The WHTs have direct and significant impacts on soil moisture and sesame seed yield. The result obtained ranked the studied WHTs on basis of soil moisture retention, yield, yield attributes in descending order of, effectiveness as: ridge and furrow technique, semi-circular bund and sowing on flat soil surface. It is thus recommended to adopt ridge and furrow technique as effective and important climate change adaptation strategy in dry land areas where water shortage, late onset and early cessation of rain occur.

Acknowledgment

The financial support provided by Ministry of Higher Education is greatly acknowledged

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Days to 90% Maturity reached by the studied WHTs

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Number of capsule per plat for the studied WHTs

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Stage	Initial	Seedling	Vegetative	Flowering	Ripening
Date from Sowing	15 DAS	30 DAS	50 DAS	70 DAS	90 DAS
Profile	0 - 90 cm
WH method	Soil moisture mm
Semi-circular	48.1	56.8	80.2	65.7	42.9
Flat	47.9	49.7	79.3	64.0	35.4
Ridge & Furrow	50.2	60.5	80.5	68.8	49.9
mean	48.7	55.7	80.0	67	42.7
Cv%	2.7	9.9	0.8	4.0	17
Significance test	Ns	Sd	Ns	Sd	Sd

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Moisture retention by the studied WHTs during crop phonological growth stages

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Final grain yield (Kg/ha) obtained by WHTs

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