Agronomic Evaluation of Sorghum Hybrids for Silage Production Cultivated in Semiarid Conditions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to study the agronomic traits of different Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench hybrids for silage productionin semiarid conditions. It was a 1-year evaluation conducted in a randomized block design with 24 treatments and three replicates. The treatments were sorghum hybrids developed by the breeding program of “Embrapa Milho e Sorgo” (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation). The fresh matter yield (FMY) in the first cut varied from 22,643.56 to 44,033.15 kg/ha, with an average of 32,607.37 kg/ha, leading to the formation of two groups. Similar results were observed for the dry matter yield (DMY), in which the highest group yielded from 9,471.32 to 14,540.23 kg/ha dry matter (DM). For plant regrowth, there was an increase in the number of stems and a decrease in the amount of panicles. Two groups were formed for the accumulated dry matter yield (ADMY), averaging 14,217.91 kg/ha; the highest group showed mean values of 18,003.00 to 14,221.94 kg/ha. The evaluated sorghum hybrids exhibited satisfactory accumulated forage yields due to their high yield in regrowth, which indicates that they are suitable for use in animal production systems in semi-arid regions.

Nutritional and fermentative profile of forage sorghum irrigated with saline water

“…Forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] has been identified as a crop with high potential for use in salinized areas of the semiarid due to its high-energy value for animal feed and adaptation to dry, saline, and warm environments, which are limiting for the cultivation of other forage species. In addition to being a crop with great potential and tolerance to areas with saline soils, sorghum is highly adapted to the silage process in the semiarid region due to its high content of soluble carbohydrates, low buffering capacity, considerable dry matter production (DMP), adaptability to low precipitation conditions, and quality of silage produced (Hefny et al 2013;Perazzo et al 2017).…”

Yield and nutritional value of biomass sorghum (BRS 716) managed in different row spacing and maturity at harvest in the semiarid region of Brazil

“…In many regions of the world, in recent years, Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] has become an increasingly important forage crop (Qu, Liu, Dong, Lu, & Shen, 2014;Amelework, Shimelis, Tongoona, Mark Laing, & Mengistu, 2015;Rakshit et al, 2016;Perazzo et al, 2017;Mwamahonje & Maseta, 2018;Worede, Mamo, Assefa, Gebremariam, & Beze, 2020). This trend is a consequence of the high dry matter yield of sorghum and its ability to adjust to different climatic and soil conditions, which include hot weather, such as in the semiarid region (Perazzo et al, 2017;Mwamahonje & Maseta, 2018;Borges et al, 2019;Ramos et al, 2021;Rigueira et al, 2021), or relatively cold climates, like Canada, Korea (McCaughey, Therrien, & Mabon, 1996;Paradhipta et al, 2019).…”

Productivity nutritive value and economic potential of irrigated fodder in two regions of Ghana

“…Harvesting at different weeks after planting (WAP) has been reported to impact both quantitative and qualitative traits of forages (Buxton, 1996; Buxton & O’Kiely, 2003). Many authors had reported different suitable WAPs when yield and quality were most stable for harvesting forage grasses especially Urochloa and forage sorghum in different parts of the world and under different seasons and fertilizer regimes (Perazzo et al., 2017; Ramírez de la Ribera et al., 2008; Zemene et al., 2020). Beyond the first harvest, ability to regrow under different conditions is considered desirable (Afzal et al., 2012; Foloni et al., 2008).…”