5 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. PRODUCTIVITY AND ECONOMICS OF SORGHUM VARIETIES FOR GRAIN AS INFLUENCED BY NITROGEN LEVELS IN SANDY LOAM SOIL Cleto Namoobe 1 --- R.K. Nanwal 2 --- Pawan Kumar 3 1 Research Scholar, Zambia College of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Zambia 2 Chief Agronomist 3 Agronomist, Department of Agronomy, CCS HAU, Hisar, India ABSTRACT The experiment was carried out at the Student Farm of CCS HAU, Hisar for two consecutive kharif seasons of 2011 and 2012. The field was laid out in a split plot design following the block randomization system with three replications. Four varieties (HC 541, HC 308, HC 171 and HJ 513) and five nitrogen levels (0, 40, 60, 80 and 100 kg N ha -1 ) were taken in the main plots and subplots, respectively. Data collected revealed that varieties and nitrogen levels has a significant influence on panicle length, number of grains panicle -1 , test weight and grain yield in both the years. Variety HJ 513 gave the maximum panicle length (28.4 and 29.6 cm), highest number of grains panicle -1 (1385 and 1402), test weight (17.60 and 24.33g) and grain yield (1949 and 1938 kg ha -1 ) in both the years. The overall economic optimum nitrogen rate (EONR) was found to be 139.1 kg ha -1 for all the varieties. However, each individual variety showed the following EONR: HJ 541 (143.1 kg ha -1 ), HC 308 (144.4 kg ha -1 ), HC 171 (139.3 kg ha -1 ) and HJ 513 (131.5 kg ha -1 ). The application of 100 kg N ha -1 gave the highest net returns and BC ratio. Variety HJ 513 had the highest BC ratio (2.24 and 2.01) in both years. Keywords: Test weight, Grain yield, Nitrogen, Economic nitrogen rate (EONR), Net returns, Benefit cost ratio. 1. INTRODUCTION Sorghum ranks fifth in the worldwide production as a grain crop among cereals after wheat, rice, maize and barley [1]. Forage sorghum is the basic feed for livestock and it is especially valuable for feeding animals in most regions of the world [2]. Its fodder contains more than 50% digestible nutrients with 8% protein, 2.5% fat and 45% nitrogen free extract. The grain of sorghum is consumed in some countries by humans. To get high yields of sorghum, the correct amount of nitrogen fertilizer should be applied. On the global scene regarding plant nutrients and their importance, N is considered the most limiting factor for plant growth after water [3]. Grain yield of sorghum is a result of many attributing factors such as panicle length, grains panicle -1 and test weight, which work together to enhance yield. It was reported by Almodares, et al. [4] that application of nitrogen increased panicle length. Miko and Manga [5] noticed a non International Journal of Natural Sciences Research 2014 Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 5-11 ISSN(e): 2311-4746 ISSN(p): 2311-7435 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.