Author(s)

Adjiwanou Atiglo-Gbenou¹, Yaovi Ouézou Azouma¹, Jean Mianikpo Sogbedji²

¹Agricultural Mechanization and Process Engineering Research Team (ERMAP), Department of Rural Engineering and Agricultural Machinery, School of Agronomy, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo.
²Soil, Climate ad Crop Sciences Interface Laboratory (LISSCPV), Department of Soil Science, School of Agronomy, University of Lomé, Lomé, Togo.

Under the current context of climate change, supplementary irrigation may be needed for crop production resilience. We determined the effects of supplementary irrigation on sorghum grain yield in the dry Savannah region of Togo. A two-year trial was conducted in a controlled environment at AREJ, an agro-ecological center in Cinkassé. The plant material was sorghum variety Sorvato 28. The experimental design was a Completely Randomized Block with three replications and three treatments as follows: T₀ control plot (rainfed conditions); T₁ (supplementary irrigation from flowering to grain filling stage) and T₂ (supplementary irrigation from planting to grain filling stage). Two irrigation techniques (furrow and Californian system) were used under each watering treatment. The results showed that irrigation technique significantly affected panicle length with no effect on 1000 grains mass. Panicle length and grain yields varied from 15.59 to 25.71 cm and 0.0 to 2.06 t∙h⁻¹, respectively, with the highest values (25.66 cm and 2.06 t∙h⁻¹, respectively) under the T₂ treatment with the California system-based supplementary irrigation. The comparison of results obtained on treatment T₀ and T₂, shows that supplementary irrigation increased the yields by at least 68.62%. Supplementary irrigation during sowing and growing season (T₂) improved sorghum yields in the dry savannahs of Togo, with a better performance of the California irrigation system.

Climate Change, Supplementary Irrigation, Sorghum Grain Yield, Dry Savannah, Togo

Atiglo-Gbenou, A. , Azouma, Y. and Sogbedji, J. (2024) Effect of Supplementary Irrigation on the Yield of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) in the Context of Climate Change in the Dry Savannahs of Togo. American Journal of Climate Change, 13, 163-174. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2024.132009.