The experiment was carried out at the Demonstration
Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Shambat, University
of Khartoum (latitude 15”40’ N, longitude 32”32’ E)
during the 1993/1994 cropping season, in a factorial
design with four replicates. The land was prepared by
deep ploughing, harrowing and levelling; the area was
then ridged and divided into 5 mx4 m plots. Treatments
used were:
1. 25 kg S ha-’ (elemental sulphur).
2. 50 kg S ha-’ (elemental sulphur).
3. 100 kg S ha-’ (elemental sulphur).
4. 40 kg N ha-’ (urea).
5. 80 kg N ha-’ (urea).
6. 3 ton chicken manure ha-’ (M ha-‘).
7. 9 ton chicken manure ha-’ (M ha-‘).
8. 15 ton chicken manure ha-’ (M ha-‘).
Each of these treatments was either inoculated or
uninoculated with Rhizobium strain. Elemental sulphur
and chicken manure treatments were applied 3 weeks
before sowing to minimize the harmful effect of chicken
manure and to give enough time for the sulphur to react
in the soil. Nitrogen was applied where required at
sowing. Seeds were placed three to a hole on the top of
the ridge with 20 cm spacing between holes and 70 cm
between ridges. Plots were irrigated immediately after
sowing and subsequently at 10 day intervals.
Chemical analysis
Seeds were carefully cleaned and freed from dirt, stones,
chips and other extraneous material, then ground to
pass through a 0.4 mm screen for proximate analysis.
AOAC (1975) methods were followed in the determination
of moisture (7.003) petroleum ether extracts
(7.048) crude fibre (7.057), ash (14.006) and crude protein
(7.016). Carbohydrate was calculated by difference.
IVPD was determined according to Saunder et al.
(1973). Tannin was determined according to AOAC
(1975). The sulphur content of seeds was determined by
the method outlined by Tabatabai (1982).