Urea Fertilizer and Ammonia Produced by Khartoum Refinery Used to Increase the Sorghum (Sorghum BicolorL.) Production in Sudan

Mohamed Sharaf Mahjoob , Mohammed Abdalla Elsheikh ,Yousif El Gorashi El Mahi1, Khalid Ahmed Ibrahim

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of the time and depth of application of aqueous waste ammonia, as a nitrogen fertilizer, on growth and yield of forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and its efficiency as compared to urea fertilizer. A field experiment was conducted at the University of Khartoum farm, Shambat, Sudan, for two seasons (2006-2007) and (2007-2008). The split block design was adopted for the layout of 76 experimental plots representing 19 treatments replicated four times each. Eighty kg N/ha of urea and of ammonia were applied at different depths: 5, 10, and 15cm into the soil at different times of application: one week before sowing , two weeks after sowing and four weeks after sowing . The results revealed that the 15cm depth of application significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the fresh and dry weight of the plant for both urea and ammonia through the two seasons as compared to other depths. The results of the experiment also showed that two weeks after sowing was found to be the best time of nitrogen fertilizer application for both urea and ammonia compared to other times.However, the results showed that yield was better in urea than that of ammonia, but the differences were quantitatively small (about one ton fresh weight ha-1).In conclusion, waste ammonia produced by Khartoum Refinery can be disposed of safely in soil by using it as a cheap nitrogen fertilizer for forage sorghum and that it is practically as efficient as urea fertilizer.