Effect of Planting Date and Seeding Rate on Growth Characters, Forage Quality and Seed Yield of Forage Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) under Drip Irrigation in New Reclaimed Soil in South Egypt

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Al-Marashda Research Station, Agriculture Research Center, Upper Egypt, Qena Governorate, Egypt through the two summer seasons of the year 2020 and 2021 under drip irrigation system in new reclaimed soil. The objectives of this study were to investigate the influence of dates of planting and seeding rate on forage yield and quality, seed yield and its components of forage cowpea (Sids 19 cv.). Three planting dates have been followed (1st April, 15th April and 1st May) with three seeding rate (7.5, 10 and 12.5 kg fed-1). The results indicated that, planting on 1st April with seeding rate of 12.5 kg fed-1 gave the highest significant values in plant height, number of branches plant-1, number of leaves plant-1, fresh leaf/stem ratio, fresh and dry forage yield, pod length (cm), number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1, 100- seed weight (g), seed yield (kg fed-1), strew yield (kg fed-1), biological yield (kg fed-1) and harvest index (%). While the reverse was obtained by planting on 1st May with the seeding rate of 7.5 kg fed-1. Planting on 1st April increased all chemical characters i.e., Crude Protein (%) and digestible crude protein (DCP%) content of cowpea plants under seeding rate of 12.5 kg fed-1, except Crude Fiber (%) which gave the highest value by planting in 1st May with the seeding rate of 7.5 kg fed-1.