Evaluation of new locally developed forage sorghum hybrids

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Experimental Farm of the Collage of Agricultural Studies - Sudan University of Science and Technology Shambat for two years (2009-2010) to evaluate the performance of 12 locally developed forage sorghum hybrids (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) together with their parents and 3 standard checks including two commercial exotic hybrids and the released Abu Sabin cultivar ‘Kambal’. The materials were arranged in Alpha Lattice design and evaluated for some agronomic and forage quality traits. Highly significant differences among genotypes were encountered for all characters except leaf to stem ratio. Some of the locally developed hybrids significantly outyielded the introduced commercial ones. The hybrid S.148xSG32-2A was unique in combining high forage yield with earliness and, was therefore, expected to meet the farmer’s preference in producing high quantities of forage in a relatively short period of time. Another late flowering, highly productive and leafy hybrid S.148xANKSSS may not meet the requirements of the traditional system, but was considered suitable under grazing systems in the modern dairy and fattening schemes. Some of the locally developed hybrids scored reasonable values for protein content. The hybrid S.148xSG32-2A which was leading in forage yield, appeared to be of less digestibility and low protein content. This calls for screening the nutritional aspects in an earlier stage of the breeding program.