Abstract            Volume:14  Issue-3  Year-2026         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Study on the effect of seeding rates and harvesting dates of hydroponic maize fodder on biomass yield, chemical composition, in-vitro dry matter digestibility and water use efficiency was carried out in Hawassa University. The treatments were comprised of three seeding rates of BH-546 maize variety and three harvesting dates. A 3 x 3 factorial experiment in a Completely Randomized Block Design was used to evaluate the effect of seeding rates (4kg/m2, 6kg/m2 and 8kg/m2) and harvesting dates (8^th, 10^th and 12^th) of hydroponic maize fodder on growth parameters (plant height, root weight and leaf weight), biomass yield, chemical composition, invitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and water use efficiency. The study was carried out in green house at the College of Agriculture using 27 translucent plastic trays measuring 37cm length, 23 cm width and 9 cm height. The bottoms of the trays were drilled uniformly to open holes to drain excess water during irrigation and placed on shelves. The effect of seeding rates, harvesting dates and their interaction was significantly (P<0.001) affected plant height, leaf weight and root weight of hydroponic maize fodder. Maize hydroponic fodder fresh biomass yield was significantly (P<0.001) varied among harvesting dates with highest value at 12^th day and 8kg/m2 seeding rate. Higher (P< 0.001) DM fodder yield was observed at 8kg/m2 seeding rate. The water use efficiency was higher in fodder harvested 12^th date compared to the other harvesting dates. The crude protein (CP) and cell wall contents such as neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were higher for sprouted maize seed rates and harvesting dates than its grain. The average in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of the maize fodder (74.9%, 75.7%, 76.4%) and (74.1%, 75.8%, 77.1%) respectively for all seeding rates and harvesting dates which was better than the other fibrous feeds. From the above results it could be concluded that 8kg maize seeding rate has got highest fodder yield and yield related components. The 12^th date of harvesting had resulted in highest fodder yield at 8 kg/m² maize seeding rate. Thus, it is recommended to produce hydroponic maize fodder of grain at 8kg/m² seeding rate and 12^th day harvesting for higher fodder yield, optimum fodder quality and hydroponic maize fodder production improves nutrient content with less water, less space used and cost effective.

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