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Characteristics of tall versus short-type varieties of forage sorghum grown under two irrigation levels, for summer and subsequent fall harvests, and digestibility by sheep of their silages

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Abstract

Changes in the response of short (Tal) and tall (FS-5) types of forage sorghum varieties to irrigation level during summer and subsequent fall growth were measured with respect to crop yield, assimilate partitioning, chemical composition and digestibility. The digestibility by sheep of silages made from Tal or FS-5 plants grown for summer and fall harvests was also investigated. During summer cycle, FS-5 plants attained maximal height of 3.2m and stem diameter of 2–2.1cm, whereas the upper height of Tal plants was lower (1.7–1.8m, P

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... However, the optimum temperature for growth is 30°C, with an average annual rainfall of 400-700 mm. The crop is adapted to a soil pH between 5 and 8.5 (Yousef et al., 2009). Sorghum is a short-day plant; cultivar varies in their sensitivity to photoperiods, and this character is controlled genetically. ...
... It is the third widely cultivated cereal in Africa, accounting for about 20 % of the region's total cereal production (Yousef et al., 2009). Traditionally, sorghum is a crop mainly grown in the northern zone of Nigeria. ...
... This may reduce the crops susceptibility and enhance resistance to lodging conditions. Yousef et al. (2009) andNwajei et al. (2019) reported that crops with bigger girths could show resistance to factors responsible for lodging in sorghum and millet. Growth is a measure of vegetative parameters or attributes (Atokple, 2010;Nwajei and Omoregie, 2017). ...
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A field study was conducted to investigate the effects of stage of growth on the forage yield, mineral composition and nutrient uptake of three sorghum varieties at the Teaching and Research Farm, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. A 3×3 factorial design fitted into a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) was used. The three varieties of sorghum used were: Samsorg 16, 44 and 48 while the three stages of growth were: vegetative (6 WAP), flowering (12 WAP) and fruiting (16 WAP). Data were obtained on vegetative parameters, forage and dry matter yields. The mineral composition and nutrient uptake were also determined. The results showed that except for the number of tillersplant-1, stage of growth significantly influenced the vegetative characters and yield of sorghum. Samsorg 16 at the fruiting stage had the highest forage (29.20 t ha-1) and dry matter yields (14.85 t ha-1). The macro-and micro-nutrients in the leaves of the crops were adequate except for Mn, Zn and Cu contents compared to the established critical levels for ruminant animal production. Samsorg 48 at fruiting and vegetative stages had the highest and least uptake of P, K, Mg, Ca and Na, respectively. However, considering the nutrient uptake, Samsorg 16 variety harvested at the fruiting stage is recommended as forage for livestock production and nutrition in this zone.
... Mohajer et al. (2012) reported that common millet's highest dry matter yield was obtained at the ripening stage and the lowest at the flowering and grain milk stages. On the other hand, the effect of cultivar on forage yield is consistent with other studies using different genotypes of sorghum (Jahanzad et al. 2013;Xie et al. 2012;Yosef et al. 2009). Although across different harvesting stages, the mean dry matter yield of cv. ...
... Carmi et al. (2006) indicated that the plant height of sorghum cultivars did not differ significantly after flowering. In comparison to our results, Yosef et al. (2009) reported lower plant height. These different findings can be attributed to variations in environmental conditions, harvest time, and the genetic composition of cultivars. ...
... The relative value of forage decreased with delay in harvest time, whereas the ADF and NDF contents increased. Previous studies have shown that higher lignin content leads to reduced dry matter digestion (Yosef et al. 2009;Miron et al. 2006). Therefore, the feed value of sorghum was influenced by the maturity stage of the plant, so the quality decreases although a higher yield can be achieved. ...
Article
Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is one of the most important forage crops in arid and semiarid regions, and its yield and nutritive value are affected by the harvesting stage. A 2-year field experiment was carried out during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons to evaluate the forage potential of sorghum cultivars at different harvesting stages. Experimental factors included four harvesting stages (grain milk stage, grain soft dough stage, grain hard dough stage, and grain physiological maturity stage) and seven sorghum cultivars. The highest dry matter and protein yields (38.13 and 3.11 Mg ha−1, respectively) were obtained from cultivar Mashhad-1 at the grain physiological maturity stage, whereas the maximum relative feed value was recorded in cv. Karaj-16 at the grain milk stage. Moreover, the highest crude protein content (116 g kg−1), digestible organic matter (734 g kg−1), and metabolizable energy (2.73 Mcal kg−1) were obtained at the grain milk stage. The maximum panicle dry matter yield (19.39 Mg ha−1) and panicle ratio (552 g kg−1) were found in cv. Karaj-9 at the grain physiological maturity stage. The results of the principal component analysis also showed that with increasing maturity, forage yield increased, and its quality decreased. Overall, when both high forage yield and quality were considered, forage harvesting between the grain soft dough and grain hard dough stages could be recommended. Among the cultivars, the cv. Mashhad-1 with the maximum dry matter and protein yield and high metabolizable energy, digestible organic matter, and crude protein content could be introduced as the superior genotype.
... Sorghum has a high resistance to drought stress and can perform well compared to other crops (Kamaei et al. 2019). Sorghum uses water and nutrients efficiently and has a high dry matter yield (Yosef et al. 2009), and this could be due to its root system superiority over other crops (Kaplan et al. 2019). Such findings indicated that sorghum is a superior crop in the semi-arid regions (Ashoori et al. 2021;Kamaei et al. 2019). ...
... Jahanzad et al. (2013) reported that deficit irrigation improved the quality of sorghum forage by increasing the leaf-to-stem ratio. Yosef et al. (2009) also reported that limited irrigation increased crude protein content (CP) and dry matter digestibility and decreased neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and lignin in sorghum forage. ...
... Higher crude protein concentrations in deficit irrigation conditions can be due to low plant growth rate and excessive nitrogen uptake . Yosef et al. (2009) also reported that drought stress increased CP content and dry matter digestibility and decreased fiber and lignin in sorghum forage by increasing the ratio of panicle per plant. ...
Article
To evaluate the herbage yield and silage quality of sorghum as affected by nitrogen and irrigation levels, a 2-yr experiment (2017–2018) was conducted in a semi-arid region of Iran. Three irrigation levels (supply 100, 75, and 50% of soil moisture deficit as I100, I75, I50) and three nitrogen levels (150, 300, and 450 kg urea ha⁻¹ as N150, N300, N450) were evaluated. Increasing nitrogen levels increased green herbage yield (GHY), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), lactic acid (LA), propionic acid (PA), digestible organic matter (DOM), crude protein (CP), and metabolizable energy (ME) but reduced the pH, dry matter content (DMC), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of silage. The I100 compared to I50 treatment, resulted in higher GHY (69%), ADF (4%), NDF (2%), DMC (5%), ash (4%), and LA (13%) but reduced the IWUE (14%), CP (15%), DOM (3%), GP (4%), and ME (3%). Overall, the I75× N450 can be considered as the suitable treatment for sorghum silage production in semi-arid regions by saving 24% of irrigation water and producing high GHY (117.52 Mg ha⁻¹) with the maximum IWUE (23.64 kg m⁻³) and high content of CP (88.5 g kg⁻¹) and PA (0.34 g kg⁻¹). In conclusion, the I75× N450 is introduced as the superior treatment; however, in conditions of severe limitation of water resources, it is recommended to irrigate silage sorghum with the supply of 50% soil moisture deficit with the application of 150 kg urea ha⁻¹ (I50× N150).
... Sorghum has considerably high resistance to both drought and salinity stresses and can produce a notable yield as compared to many other plants just because of well-developed root system (Tari et al., 2013). It was emphasized by many authors that sorghum plant uses water (Bean et al., 2002) and plant nutrients (N, P, K) more efficiently and thus had higher dry matter yields than maize and many other cereals (Bean et al., 2002;Yosef et al., 2009) again just because of two times larger root system than that of maize (House, 1985). Such a case makes sorghum a superior ground crop in areas with limited water and nutrients. ...
... Crop response to water deficiency and nitrogen vary with the local conditions, thus it is quite significant to test sorghum response to different irrigation regimes and nitrogen treatments under local conditions. It was declared in previous studies that irrigation levels influenced lignin and water-soluble sugar content, thus altered in vitro digestibility of sorghum silage Yosef et al., 2009). Therefore, water and nitrogenous fertilizers should be so properly applied that they should improve efficient use of plant nutrients, produce high yields (Kim et al., 2008) and preserve silage quality as well as feed digestibility. ...
... Increasing water and nitrogen levels also increased stem ratios, thus increased ADF and NDF contents and reduced CP, GP, ME and OMD (Kaplan et al., 2014). Increasing NDF contents, decreasing in vitro digestibility and linearly decreasing crude protein ratios were reported in sorghum silage with increasing irrigation levels (Yosef et al., 2009;Islam et al., 2012). Increasing water and nitrogen levels reduced panicle ratio and energy (i.e. ...
Article
This study was carried out to determine potential effects of water deficit and nitrogen treatments on yield components of sorghum sudangrass and nutritional composition, fermentation, organic matter digestibility, gas-methane production of sorghum sudangrass silage. Plants were grown under combinations of three different irrigation levels (I 100 : 100, I 75 : 75 and I 50 : 50% of depleted water from field capacity) and three different nitrogen doses (N 1 : 100, N 2 : 200, N 3 : 300 kg ha ⁻¹ ). Experiments were conducted in randomized blocks - split plots design for two years in 2013 and 2014. Harvested plants were ensilaged, silage samples were opened after 60 days and relevant analyses were performed on silage samples. Irrigation treatments increased green herbage yield, yield components, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), dry matter and crude ash and decreased crude protein, gas production and organic matter digestibility. Increasing nitrogen doses increased panicle and leaf ratio, crude protein ratio and green herbage yield and decreased dry matter and pH levels. The greatest ADF, NDF, metabolic energy, gas production and organic matter digestibility values were obtained from 200 kg ha ⁻¹ treatment. Current findings revealed that increasing yield but decreasing quality values were observed with increasing irrigation levels. Appropriate nitrogen doses had positive impacts on green herbage yield and feed quality. There were not significant differences between N 3 × I 100 and N 2 × I 75 treatments. Therefore, a slight water deficit (I 75 ) and normal nitrogen supply (200 kg ha ⁻¹ ) is recommended for sorghum sudangrass culture without any significant losses in yield and quality parameters.
... (Despal et al., 2011). Tingginya kandungan bahan kering mencerminkan proses silase tersebut mampu menjaga/mengawetkan bahan dan aditif silase sumber karbohidrat mudah larut untuk menaikkan bahan kering, membantu mempercepat proses fermentasi, dan mempertahankan atau meningkatkan nutrien bahan pakan yang diawetkan (Yosef et al., 2009).Hal ini didukung dengan pendapat Ward (2008) yang menyatakan semakin cepat penurunan pH, maka akan semakin terjaga kandungan bahan kering dalam proses fermentasi.Kehilangan materi yang minimal, rendahnya pH, struktur dan aroma silase menunjukkan proses ensilase berjalan dengan memadai dan mengindikasikan tingginya daya recovery(pemulihan) silase (Yosef et al., 2009). ...
... (Despal et al., 2011). Tingginya kandungan bahan kering mencerminkan proses silase tersebut mampu menjaga/mengawetkan bahan dan aditif silase sumber karbohidrat mudah larut untuk menaikkan bahan kering, membantu mempercepat proses fermentasi, dan mempertahankan atau meningkatkan nutrien bahan pakan yang diawetkan (Yosef et al., 2009).Hal ini didukung dengan pendapat Ward (2008) yang menyatakan semakin cepat penurunan pH, maka akan semakin terjaga kandungan bahan kering dalam proses fermentasi.Kehilangan materi yang minimal, rendahnya pH, struktur dan aroma silase menunjukkan proses ensilase berjalan dengan memadai dan mengindikasikan tingginya daya recovery(pemulihan) silase (Yosef et al., 2009). ...
... Nilai Fleigh (NF) akan tinggi apabila semakin tinggi kandungan BK dan semakin rendah pH silase. Kandungan BK yang tinggi mencerminkan proses silase tersebut mampu menjaga atau mengawetkan bahan, sedangkan rendahnya nilai pH akan memberi gambaran bahwa proses ensilasi berjalan dengan baik (Yosef et al. 2009). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa silase sorgum memiliki NF tertinggi, yaitu 99,53±1,83 yang dikategorikan dalam kualitas baik sekali. ...
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Feed availability has to meet quantity, quality and continuity aspect. Feed preservation technology by making silage from suitable forage plants is expected to meet these needs. Sorghum has the potential as a good silage material but needs to be improved in quality by adding other forage which have high crude protein content. This study was aimed to evaluate the quality and characteristics fermentation of sorghum and legumecombination silage. This research was conducted by combining Stay greensorghum and Indigofera zolingeriana (100: 0, 60:40, 50:50, and 40: 60% combination) as silage material to be evaluated for pH, dry matter content (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and Fleighpoint. Silage was made in 1 liter size silos which are fermented for 21 days. The results showed that the increasing percentage of Indigofera zolingeriana in silage could increase silage, pH, DM, and CP silage. The increase in pH resulted in proteolysis of silage protein. The added of Indigofera zolingeriana in silage combination at 40% was still possible to obtain good quality silage (Fleighpoint 70.13) and reaching 15.68% of silage CP content. The silage quality was decrease if the percentage of Indigofera zolingeriana increased, even though the silage CP content could increasesafterward.
... grains they produced. The height values of the cultivar obtained ( Figure 2a) agree with previous values reported by Mekasha et al. (2022) and are intermediate height values between those published for tall (<323 cm) and short type S. bicolor varieties (<182 cm) (Yosef et al., 2009). The previous studies have reported the possibility of increasing plant height by adding extra water to plants grown under drought conditions (Yosef et al., 2009). ...
... The height values of the cultivar obtained ( Figure 2a) agree with previous values reported by Mekasha et al. (2022) and are intermediate height values between those published for tall (<323 cm) and short type S. bicolor varieties (<182 cm) (Yosef et al., 2009). The previous studies have reported the possibility of increasing plant height by adding extra water to plants grown under drought conditions (Yosef et al., 2009). Regarding the biomass obtained (Figure 2b), the cultivars with a dry weight shoot significantly higher than the other ones studied were ZHG and TG. ...
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To reduce the impact on the environment and enhance the sustainability of resources it is necessary to promote and strengthen the use of landrace cultivars that advocate regenerative agriculture. In this study, the growth and development as well as the anaerobic digestion (AD) of 6 different landrace cultivars, 2 commercial hybrids cultivars and a public genotype of Sorghum bicolor (S. bicolor) have been evaluated. The landrace cultivars, in general, presented greater heights, biomass yields and compactness shoots as well as similar or an improvement in grain production compare to the commercial varieties. The AD of the different sorghum straws was performed in batch mode at mesophilic temperature (35 °C). The landrace cultivar Zahina (ZH) obtained the highest final methane yield (413 ± 79 NL CH4 kg‐1 VS) but the landrace cultivars Zahina gigante (ZHG) and Trigomillo (TG) were the ones that obtained the highest methane per biomass production (13.7 and 12.7 NL CH4 shoot unit‐1, respectively). By contrast, the commercial varieties were the ones that obtained the lowest methane yields. Two mathematical models, first‐order kinetics and the Transference Function model, were used to fit the experimental data with the aim of describing and simulating the anaerobic biodegradation of these S. bicolor straw varieties and obtaining the kinetic constants. Both models allowed for adequately fitting the experimental results of methane production with time. In particular, the fastest biomethanization occurred using the commercial variety PR88Y20 (PR88) (specific rate constant k = 0.148 ± 0.008 days‐1), while the slowest one was obtained from Panizo (PAN) variety (k = 0.064 ± 0.005 days‐1). In addition, the highest values of the maximum methane production rate, Rm, were attained for the varieties ZH and PR88, which were 87.1% and 71.3% higher than that achieved for the PAN variety, which exhibited the lowest value.
... It also helps in maintaining nutritional contents in corn stover and results in the increasing dry matter recovery [12]. The high dry matter content indicates that the ensilage process is able to maintain the nutritional contents of forage and the additive material is acted as soluble carbohydrate source to increase dry matter content, to help accelerate the fermentation, and to maintain or to increase the preserved feed nutrition [13] [14]. The stable DM content in the range of 35-36% is considered to be influenced by the pH level of silage which is classified as an ideal pH so that the ensilage process will occur normally [15]. ...
... The high dry matter content indicates that ensilage process is able to preserve the silage materials, while the low pH indicates that the ensilage process runs appropriately. Minimum biomass loss, low pH level, aroma and structure of silage indicate that ensilage process runs effectifely and it holds suffecient recovery capacity [13]. Good Fleigh score is characterized by high dry matter content and low pH level in silage. ...
... Crop response to water deficiency and nitrogen vary with the local conditions, thus it is quite significant to test sorghum response to different irrigation regimes and nitrogen treatments under local conditions. It was declared in previous studies that irrigation levels influenced lignin and water-soluble sugar content, thus altered in vitro digestibility of sorghum silage (Carmi et al., 2006;Yosef et al., 2009). Therefore, water and nitrogenous fertilizers should be so properly applied that they should improve efficient use of plant nutrients, produce high yields (Kim et al., 2008) and preserve silage quality as well as feed digestibility. ...
... In vivo sheep digestibility of short and tall sorghum varieties was evaluated by Yosef et al. (2009). No significant differences were found in NDF and cellulose content between two variants irrespective of the growth season, however digestibility and CP intake was higher in short sorghum genotype. ...
Article
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Sorghum is a forage species important in animal nutrition with an increased potential in the upcoming difficulties in agricultural practices in regard to climate change. Therefore, this paper describes its yield and nutritional parameters depending on growing conditions simulated on two locations (humid and fertile Obora, less fertile and dry Písky), two sowing dates (29. 5. and 25. 6.), and variety (11 varieties). Fresh matter yield was determined by weighing the sample on the field immediately after harvest, Dry matter yield and nutritional content were determined in laboratory by Weende analysis from dried and homogenized samples. Nutritional parameters measured were crude fibre, fat, nitrogen and ash content. Additionally, digestibility of organic as well as dry matter was determined. No significant differences in average fresh matter yield or dry matter yield were found between the two locations and sowing dates in general. There were significant differences among varieties, the highest yields were measured in KWS Zerberus (51.57 ± 3.76 t/ha of fresh matter yield, 15.98 ± 1.34 t/ha of dry matter yield, with higher values observed on Písky). Our data suggest, that sowing date does significantly affect fat content (higher in June sowing). Other nutritional parameters were also higher in sorghum sown in June, with the exception of ash. Nutritional composition of samples did not significantly differ variety to variety, however, there were differences in digestibility of the biomass. Organic matter digestibility was 70.58–85.67%, dry matter digestibility was 73.21–86.70%, with highest digestibility in DMS 45-480. Varieties with the highest importance to farmers in the area are KWS Zerberus, KWS Tarzan and KWS Kallisto (based on dry matter yield), and Triumfo BMR, Sweet Susana and DSM 45-480 (based on digestibility). Sorghum was able to perform well even on dry sandy soil with lower fertilization, which shows the high variability and suitability of sorghum in agricultural practice.
... Similarly to the findings of Islam et al. [45], the NDF content was higher, and the CP content was lower in years with higher precipitation levels, i.e., higher water availability to plants. Different results were presented by Yosef et al. [47], who noted an increase in the concentration of CP and water-soluble carbohydrates in sorghum forages with increasing irrigation levels. Differentials in the chemical composition of plants could result from physiological processes that occur in response to different availability of water and fertilization levels, mostly the associative effects of chemical constituents, the rate of photosynthesis, nutrient transport, and N metabolism in plants. ...
Article
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The purpose of this field study was to assess the impact of meat and bone meal (MBM) on maize. The experimental procedures were as follows: (1) without fertilization; (2) inorganic nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus; (3) 1.0 Mg·ha−1 MBM; (4) 1.5 Mg·ha−1 MBM; and (5) 2.0 Mg·ha−1 MBM. Each year, MBM was applied before sowing. Nitrogen and potassium were applied at constant rates, and phosphorus was applied at increasing rates of 0.0, 45, 68, and 90 kg·ha−1. The herbage yields were significantly higher in fertilized treatments. Fertilization contributed to a significant increase in the crude protein content of maize herbage. The yield and other herbage parameters were affected by weather conditions and the amount of time that passed since the MBM application. The study demonstrated that the lowest dose of MBM (1.0 Mg·ha−1), which supplied 45 kg phosphorus·ha−1, fully met the phosphorus requirements of maize.
... Among nitrogen levels, 150% RDN reported highest invitro dry matter digestibility (58.89%) and was at par with 125% RDN (Table 2). [26] reported that an increase of 1% in forage lignin content is accompanied by a reduction of 4% in its IVDMD values. Increase in nitrogen levels resulted in increased IVDMD and 150% RDN recorded the highest value. ...
Article
Maize (Zea mays L.) is widely known as a ready-made fodder crop. Maize is the third major cereal crop in the world, and in India, it ranks third. Maize has been an important cereal crop owing to its highest production potential and wider adaptability to varied agroclimatic conditions, hence being called the ‘Queen of Cereals’. The production potential of forage maize can be altered with changes in agronomic practices. The present study was undertaken with the objective of improving the yield attributes and quality traits of forage maize (Shalimar Fodder Maize-1). The experiment consisted of two factors, viz., three planting densities (viz., D1= 30cm x 10cm, D2= 40cm x 10cm, and D3= 50cm x 10cm) as main plots and five nitrogen levels (viz., N1= Control, N2= 75% RDN (recommended dose of nitrogen), N3= 100% RDN, N4= 125% RDN, and N5= 150% RDN) as subplot treatments with three replications, laid out in split plot design (SPD). The parameters such as yield attributes, and quality parameters were significantly higher when plants were grown at a density of 30 cm x 10 cm with a nitrogen level of 150 % RDN.
... There are several forages with potential in animal feed; however, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) stands out, requiring up to 53% less water (McCorkle et al. 2007) compared to corn (traditional source of energy) for animals), becoming an important crop in arid and semiarid regions. Unlike maize, sorghum grows after cutting, providing a second harvest (Yosef et al. 2009), increasing productivity and reducing dry matter costs per hectare. ...
Article
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The objective of this study was to evaluate sorghum hybrids associated or not associated with Azospirillum brasilense and nitrogen fertilization (N) during planting on the yield, fermentative profile, and nutritional value of the respective silages. Five sorghum hybrids (Volumax, 201813B, 201814B, 201709B, BRS716) were evaluated with three nitrogen fertilization strategies using urea (100 kg ha⁻¹ of N) and Azospirillum brasilense, and urea (100 kg ha⁻¹ of N)/A. brasilense in association. A randomized block design was used in a 5 × 3 factorial scheme, with five hybrids, three fertilization strategies and three replications (blocks). The useful area of each experimental unit was 3 m x 3 m. The biomass sorghum hybrids showed a dry matter (DM) production (P = 0.01) 48.31% higher than the DM production of the Volumax forage (mean of 17.49 t ha⁻¹ of dry matter). There was no difference between the sorghum hybrid silages in the pH values (mean of 4.11; P = 0.68), gas losses (mean of 3.74% of DM; P = 0.19). The sorghum hybrids biomass 201709B and BRS 716 showed better digestible and DM productivity. Azospirillum brasilense can be used as a nitrogen fertilization strategy in partial or total replacement of urea.
... Kisaran nilai Fleigh dan gambaran kualitas fermentasi silase yang di capai; NF = 85 -100 (baik sekali), NF = 60 -80 (baik), NF = 40 -60 (cukup baik), NF= 20 -40 (sedang), dan NF = <20 (kurang baik) [19]. Nilai Fleigh akan tinggi apabila semakin tinggi kandungan BK dan semakin rendah pH silase [20]. Berdasarkan hasil analisis ragam menunjukkan bahwa perbedaan persentase sorgum Stay green utuh dengan Indigofera zollingeriana dalam silase tidak memberikan pengaruh nyata (p>0,05) terhadap Nilai Fleigh silase. ...
Article
Produktivitas ternak dipengaruh oleh kualitas Dan kontinuitas pakan yang diberikan sehingga perlu adanya ketersediaan pakan yang dapat dilakukan dengan teknologi pengawetan yaitu silase. Sorghum memiliki potensi sebagai bahan pembuatan silase yang baik namun perlu ditambahkan hijauan yang memilki kandungan nutrisi yang tinngi untuk meningkatkan kualitasnya. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui karakteristik dan kualitas silase berbahan kombinasi sorgum Stay green utuh dengan Indigofera zolingeriana. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan mengkombinasikan sorghum Stay green dengan Indigofera zolingeriana (75 : 25, 70 : 30, 65 : 35, 60 : 40) sebagai bahan silase. Variabel yang diamati kandungan Bahan Kering, kandungan Protein Kasar, dan Nilai Fleigh silase. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa silase kombinasi 65% sorgum Stay green utuh dengan 35% Indigofera zolingeriana dan 60% sorgum Stay green dengan 40% Indigofera zolingeriana memiliki pH rendah (3,73 dan 3,80), bahan kering tinggi (20,60% dan 20,53%), protein kasar ( 17,67% dan 18,54%) dan memiliki nilai fleigh (97,25 dan 94,12).
... Tingginya kandungan BK mencerminkan proses silase tersebut mampu menjaga/mengawetkan bahan, sedangkan rendahnya nilai pH memberikan gambaran bahwa proses ensilase berjalan dengan baik. [25] Silase kombinasi rumput gajah (Pennisetum purpureum) dan Indigofera zollingeriana dengan menggunakan asam laktat organik memiliki nilai Fliegh sangat baik (81,63 dan 88,20), sedangkan dengan penambahan inokulan BAL dari ekstrak rumput gajah terfermentasi memiliki nilai Fliegh baik (69,70 dan 70,38). ...
Article
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbandingan kualitas dan karakteristikfermentasi silase kombinasi rumput gajah (Pennisetum purpureum) - Indigofera zollingeriana denganmenggunakan asam laktat organik dan inokulan BAL dari ekstrak rumput gajah terfermentasi dantelah dilaksanakan 3 Minggu yaitu di Laboratorium Ilmu Nutrisi Teknologi Pakan Unit Teknologi danIndustri Pengolahan Pakan dan Laboratorium Ilmu Nutrisi Teknologi Pakan Unit Analisis PakanTernak Fakultas Peternakan, Universitas Halu Oleo. Penelitian ini menggunakan Rancangan AcakLengkap yang terdiri atas 5 perlakuan dengan 4 ulangan, yaitu P0 = 50% Rumput Gajah + 50%Indigofera; P1 = 50% Rumput Gajah + 50% Indigofera + 2% Asam Laktat Organik; P2 = 50%Rumput Gajah + 50% Indigofera + 3% Asam Laktat Organik; P3 = 50% Rumput Gajah + 50%Indigofera + 2% Inokulan BAL; P4 = 50% Rumput Gajah + 50% Indigofera + 3% Inokulan BAL ;Variabel yang diamati adalah warna, aroma, tekstur (organoleptik) kadar pH, kandungan BahanKering, kandungan Protein Kasar, dan Nilai Fleigh silase. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis berdasarkananalisis ragam (ANOVA) dan dilanjutkan dengan uji Duncan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwadengan menggunakan 2% dan 3% penambahan Asam Laktat dan Inokulan BAL pada silase memilikikadar pH tinggi 5.55 ± 1.03 ,kandungan BK tinggi 24.88 ± 2.54 dan kandungan PK, 17.91 ± 1.76nilai Fleigh 88.20 ± 7.81.Variabel organoleptik menunjukkan bahwa semua kombinasi memilikiwarna cokelat kekuningan, beraroma asam dan agak basah.Kata kunci: Kualitas, Karakteristik, Rumput Gajah, Daun Indigofera
... The observed lower accumulation by variety Melkam could be because of its earliness in maturity and short plant height than the other two varieties (Table 3). Similar varietal differences have been reported in other similar sorghum-growing areas of the world (Abubakar & Bubuche, 2013;Chavan et al., 2010;Hassen et al., 2015;Pinho et al., 2014;Yosef et al., 2009). ...
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In Ethiopia, the use of traditional and improved grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] variety as green forage crop is limited mainly by the large stalk thickness and low nutritive values. An experiment was conducted to explore if forage biomass accumulation and nutritive values could be managed by seeding rates. Two improved dual‐purpose grain sorghum varieties (Melkam and Chelenko), and one traditional local variety (Masugi) each representing early and late maturity groups were sown for 2 yr at three locations in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications involving five seeding rates (12.5, 25, 50, 75, and 100 kg ha⁻¹). The results showed significant effects of year, location, variety, seeding rate, and the interactions on different variables. These main effects contributed more and the interactions less to the total variation observed on different variables. Increasing the seeding rate significantly decreased stalk thickness, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and acid detergent lignin (ADL), but significantly increased in‐vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) concentration by up to 6.6% with no significant effect on forage dry matter accumulation. Among the varieties significantly more dry matter accumulation was observed for the late‐maturing varieties, whereas the early‐maturing variety showed significantly greater crude protein (CP) and IVOMD with significantly less NDF, ADF, and ADL concentrations across the different locations. Thus, increasing the seeding rate above the recommended 12.5 kg ha⁻¹ for grain could help improve forage potential of dual‐purpose grain sorghum varieties in Ethiopia.
... Kaplan et al. (2016) demonstrated that nitrogen application increased plant height, plant green herbage yield, CP and organic matter digestibility and reduced pH levels, ADF and NDF ratios of the silage. Furthermore, decreasing dry matter content with increasing nitrogen has indicated by Yosef et al. (2009) andTurgut et al. (2005). In the present study, nitrogen application also increased the contents of acetic acid (Tables 3, 6). ...
Article
The present study carried out to evaluate the effects of irrigation regimes (control and water stress) and two nitrogen levels (0, and 112.5 kg ha−1) on dry matter yield and silage quality of proso millet, sorghum and corn plants in 2015–2016. Results showed that dry matter (DM) yields of millet, sorghum and corn plants decreased as a result of water shortage. Under both irrigation regimes, the highest DM yields were observed in sorghum. Water stress also reduced irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) in millet and corn, while it had no significant effect on that of sorghum. Water shortage led to increases in acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in corn and sorghum, whereas no significant differences were observed in millet. Furthermore, water deficit resulted in decreased digestibility in corn and sorghum, while increased it in millet. Under normal irrigation, maximum digestibility was observed in corn, while under water stress, no significant difference was observed between corn and millet. Accordingly, it can be said that sorghum is the best option for planting in arid areas, which has the highest yield and is also acceptable in terms of quality. In addition, nitrogen application is recommended to improve IWUE and forage quality. But, because of its insignificant effect on DM yield under stress conditions, application of nitrogen under stress conditions should be tested at more levels to find out optimum amount of nitrogen use and prevent fertilizer loss.
... low fertilizer requirement, advantages in erosion and weed control. Sorghum is extensively grown as a forage crops and becoming increasingly important in many regions of the world (Miron et al., 2006;Yosef et al., 2009;Glamoclija et al., 2011). Fodder quality is of great important as well as higher forage yield. ...
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This study was conducted to determinate of yield and some quality characters of sorghum cultivars in Usak province in 2014. In the study was used four sorghum sudangrass hybrid (Aneto, Sugar Graze II, Greengo, Nutri Honey) and two sorghum cultivars (Teide and Rox). The experiment was carried out in completely randomized block design with three replicates. In the study, plant height, herbage yield, hay yield, crude protein (CP) ratio, crude protein yields, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total digestible nutrient (TDN) and relative feed value (RFV) were determined. There were significant differences in all the properties examined among sorghum and sorghum-sudangrass hybrid cultivars. According to the results of the research, plant heights of cultivars ranged from 200.1 to 229.7 cm, herbage yields ranged from 57.40 to 77.73 t ha-1, hay yields ranged from 14.11 to 18.95 t ha-1, crude protein ratios ranged from 9.95 to 11.94%, crude protein yields ranged from 1.46 to 2.15 t ha-1, ADF ratios from 36.64 to 42.41%, NDF ratios from 55.79 to 60.12%, total digestible nutrient ratios from 46.60 to 54.05%, relative feed values from 87.14 to 100.56. Greengo cultivar had higher herbage yield, hay yield, total digestible nutrient and relative feed values and lower ADF and NDF ratio than other cultivars. The results revealed that Greengo cultivar can be considered suitable for the Uşak and similar ecological conditions.
... Sorghum that is commonly cultivated in arid and semi-arid areas to meet nutritional needs for livestock production in Turkey was choose as plant material. It is extensively grown as a forage crops and becoming increasingly importance in many regions of the world (Miron et al., 2006;Yosef et al., 2009;Atis et al., 2012) This study was carried out to determine effects of some heavy metals on germination and seedling growth of sorghum. ...
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Heavy metal contamination in soils can adversely affect seed germination and seedling growth of most plants. This research was conducted to determine the effects of different doses (0, 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg L-1) of Ni (nickel), Cd (cadmium), Pb (lead), Cr (chromium) and Hg (mercury) on seed germination and seedling growth of sorghum. The study was conducted under laboratory conditions at the Agricultural Faculty of Akdeniz University in 2017. Sorghum cv. N48×Early Sumac was used as the plant material. In the research, germination rate (GR), relative germination index (RGI), mean germination time (MGT), relative vigor index (RVI), relative root length (RRL), relative shoot length (RSL), root fresh weight (RFW) and shoot fresh weight (SFW) were measured during germination and seedling growth to determine the effects of heavy metals. The results showed that both germination and seedling growth properties were adversely affected by heavy metals. In addition, while the negative effect of cadmium on germination properties was limited, it had serious negative effects on seedling characteristics of sorghum. Increasing heavy metal doses adversely affected all investigated properties. In conclusion, even though heavy metals used this study had negative effect on germination and seedling growth of sorghum, especially Hg and Cd caused higher an adverse effect than others.
... Penggunaan beberapa asam organik ataupun garam organik kemungkinan dapat dilakukan untuk mengurangi perkembangan clostridial dan jamur pada silase (Kasmaei, 2016 kerusakan bahan pakan, sedangkan pH yang rendah adalah refleksi dari proses fermentasi yang berjalan dengan baik. Pada akhir produk silase, kehilangan materi yang rendah, rendahnya pH, tekstur lembut dan aroma khas silase menunjukkan proses fermentasi pada silase berjalan dengan baik dan menandakan tingginya daya recovery silase (Yosef et al., 2009). Silase dengan penggunaan 2% asam laktat (A1) merupakan silase dengan kualitas terbaik, yaitu memiliki kandungan BK tertinggi dan pH silase yang terendah. ...
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ABSTRAK. Silase gabungan rumput-leguminosa merupakan inovasi yang dapat diaplikasikan untuk menyediakan pakan dan bisa digunakan sepanjang tahun. Kandungan protein silase campuran tersebut dapat mencapai tingkat optimal sebagai pakan konsentrat hijau (green concentrate). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi kualitas, karakter fermentasi dan kecernaan in vitro silase campuran sorgum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and gamal (Gliricidia sepium) dengan menambahkan dosis asam laktat yang berbeda. Silase dibuat dengan mencampur bahan penyusun yang terdiri dari sorgum dan daun gamal dengan perbandingan 1:1 dan penambahan asam laktat konsentrasi 20% (v/v). Penelitian terdiri atas 3 perlakuan yaitu; A0: (kontrol) tanpa penambahan asam laktat, A1: penambahan asam laktat sebanyak 2% (b/v), A2: 2,5% (b/v), dan A3: 3% (b/v) dengan 4 ulangan tiap perlakuan. Proses ensilase menggunakan cairan rumen kambing selama 21 hari. Parameter penelitian yang diamati adalah kualitas silase dan kecernaan in vitro. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dosis penambahan asam laktat sebanyak 2% menghasilkan silase paling optimal dengan pH (3,94), bahan kering (26,62%), dan nilai Fleigh (100,89), namun tidak berpengaruh terhadap kandungan protein kasar, kecernaan bahan organik, kecernaan bahan kering dan kecernaan protein kasar. Kesimpulan pada penelitian ini adalah penggunaan asam laktat organik dengan dosis 2 hingga 3% (b/v) konsentrasi 20% (v/v) mampu meningkatkan karakteristik, kualitas fermentasi tetapi tidak mempengaruhi nilai KcBK, KcBO dan KcPK silase campuran sorgum stay green (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and gamal (Gliricidia sepium). (Quality evaluation, fermentation characteristic and in vitro digestibility of stay green sorghum-Gliricidia sepium mix silage on different level of lactic acid utilization) ABSTRACT. The grass-legume combined silage is an innovation that can be applied to provide feed and can be used throughout the year. The content of the mixed silage protein can reach optimal levels as a green concentrate feed. This study aims to evaluate the quality, fermentation characteristics and digestibility of in vitro silage of a mixture of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and gamal (Gliricidia sepium) by adding different doses of lactic acid. Silage is made by mixing a constituent consisting of sorghum and gamal leaves in a ratio of 1: 1 and the addition of lactic acid concentration of 20% (v / v). The study consisted of 3 treatments namely; A0: (control) without the addition of lactic acid, A1: addition of 2% (w / v) lactic acid, A2: 2.5% (w / v), and A3: 3% (w / v) with 4 replications each treatment. The ensilage process used goat's rumen fluid for 21 days. The research parameters observed were silage quality and in vitro digestibility. The results showed that the addition dose of lactic acid as much as 2% produced the most optimal silage with pH (3.94), dry matter (26.62%), and Fleigh value (100.89), but had no effect on crude protein content, digestibility organic matter, digestibility of dry matter and digestibility of crude protein. The conclusion of this study is the use of organic lactic acid with a dose of 2 to 3% (w/v) concentration of 20% (v/v) can improve the characteristics, quality of fermentation but does not affect the value of KcBK, KcBO and KcPK silage stay sorghum mixture green (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and gamal (Gliricidia sepium).
... Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the 5th most important cereal in the world (Visarada and Aruna, 2019) and, only after corn, it is considered a standard forage for silages, mainly in arid and semi-arid regions (Yosef et al., 2009). Transvala grass (stent Digitaria decumbens cv. ...
Article
This study proposes to investigate the production performance of lambs fed diets containing different roughage sources and formulated with different roughage-to-concentrate ratios (R:C). A total of 108 castrated male Santa Inês lambs aged 3–6 months, at an average body weight of 26.1 kg ± 5.6 kg were used. The experiment was set up as a randomized block design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement represented by two R:C ratios (400:600 or 600:400 g/kg, dry matter basis) and two roughage sources [transvala grass (Digitaria decumbens Stent cv. Transvala) hay or sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) silage], or a combination of the two sources. Six diets were tested, namely, Diet 1–400 g/kg hay +600 g/kg concentrate; Diet 2–400 g/kg silage +600 g/kg concentrate; Diet 3–200 g/kg hay +200 g/kg silage +600 g/kg concentrate; Diet 4–600 g/kg hay +400 g/kg concentrate; Diet 5–600 g/kg silage +400 g/kg concentrate; and Diet 6–300 g/kg hay +300 g/kg silage +400 g/kg concentrate. The concentrate was composed of ground corn, soybean meal, urea and a mineral mixture. The diets with the lower R:C ratio (400:600 g/kg DM) provided the highest intakes of dry matter and other nutritional components as well as increased animal performance and carcass yield parameters. Better feed efficiency was observed in the lambs fed the silage-containing diets. In conclusion, the tested roughage sources can be used in lamb diets, and the roughage level of 400 g/kg DM maximizes feed efficiency in lambs. When using hay in the diet formulation, higher weight gain rates are achieved with a R:C ratio of 400:600 g/kg; for diets formulated with silage, in turn, the recommended R:C ratio for increased weight gain is 600:400 g/kg. Thus, depending on the availability of roughage, the producer may choose one of the sources and associate it with the most adequate proportion of concentrate to maximize the performance of feedlot lambs.
... The average values of dry fodder yield per plant per day were 0.74 g at first cut, 0.51 g at second cut and 0.33 g at third cut. The significant variations among sorghum genotypes for dry matter production have already been reported in studies conducted by Yousef et al. (2009), Ayub et al. (2012), Ghasemi et al. (2012) and Singh et al. (2013). ...
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An investigation was carried out with multicut forage sorghum variety SSG 59-3 and its 15 mutants derived from gamma irradiation to identify the superior mutant genotypes for high fodder yield and quality in sorghum. Differences among the genotypes were found significant for all the quality traits and most of the yield traits studied at different cut(s). The mutant genotypes SSG 226 was the best performer for both quality and fodder yield and, another two mutant genotypes SSG 231 and SSG 222 was also good for fodder yield and quality, respectively but it perform poorer for vice-versa. The genotype SSG 226 produced green fodder yield (3.33, 1.52 and 0.95 g/plant/day) and dry fodder yield (1.03, 0.61 and 0.42 g/plant/day) at first, second and third cuts, respectively with crude protein (8.18) along with desirable lowest crude fibre (30.60) and highest ash content (8.39) at first cut. Taking a better variety in respect to fodder yield and nutritional contents, the genotype SSG 226 should be preferred over the tested mutant genotypes for forage purpose.
... This is suspected as the implication of the DM content in all treatments that are relatively the same range (35.33 -36.65%) and fairly stable pH of about 4, so that made the silages Fleigh score relatively the same. This phenomenon explained that the Fleigh score will be high if the silage has high of DM content and low of pH [15]. Silage DM content which reaches 36.65% ...
... Sedangkan kombinasi dengan penggunaan indigofera di atas 20% menghasilkan silase berkualitas fermentasi masingmasing sedang dan rendah. Kehilangan materi yang minimal, rendahnya pH, stuktur dan aroma silase menunjukkan proses ensilase berjalan dengan memadai dan mengindikasikan tingginya daya recovery silase (Yosef et al. 2009). ...
... From irrigation point of view, our results are in disagreement with the findings of Daneshni et al. [22], they said that berseem may could not capable to tolerate water scarcity, however, there was also a significant improvement for all growth and yield traits were measured at reduced (08 level) input of irrigation, the plant has the capacity to tolerate water deficiency as well as maximum population density help to provide shade to the root zone soil. Scientifically, plant adjust the temporary drought spell by maintaining the hydration of the tissue [23], and this advantage was noticed in our experiment, extension of the irrigation interval from 15 days to 18 days was beneficial and observed useless when it was extended too much up to 21 days, and we noticed that 18 days gap of irrigation is a critical range, this finding is in line with Ram et al. [24], suggested optimum irrigation scheduling in different aspects, inaccurate irrigation scheduling or shortage of water can reduce 75% leaf area, transpiration and biomass [25], too low water also decreases crop quality [26], 40 seeds head −1 , 3.55 g 1000-grain weight, 8530 kg ha −1 biological and 508 kg ha −1 seed yield were obtained on 10 irrigations, while two irrigations gave 2.99 g 1000-grain weight, 33 seeds head −1 and 429 kg ha −1 seed yield. The seed yield was severely reduced about 47% when the irrigation was decreased from ten to four irrigations; this could be, because of flowers and head abscission under moisture stress [27], since the yield traits of berseem clover are correlated with soil moisture conditions [28]. ...
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The limiting of water resource and traditional farming practices are threatening the sustainability of important minor crops in Pakistan, including berseem, which is a key source of fodder for dairy farms. Each year, 2% reduction of cultivated area, low yield and grower’s non-preference (to rotate or replace wheat-cotton pattern) factors are adversely affecting the livestock sector. Consequently, animal rearing business is suffering badly due to lack of fresh forage in the country. Therefore, a three-replicated randomized complete block design (RCBD) field experiment was conducted during rabi season to evaluate berseem crop in term of yield and profit under existing farming practice (85:115:00 NPK kg ha−1 + 12 irrigations with 15 days intervals) and optimized treatments (70:100:30 NPK kg ha−1, 55:85:15 NPK kg ha−1 + 12, 08, 04 irrigations + 15, 18, 21 days intervals). The net plot size was 12 m2 with a pH range of 8.1 silty clay loam soil type. In addition, the climate was monitored as well, there was no rainfall observed during the entire crop period. The analysis of statistical data showed a significant (p < 0.05) vegetative, reproductive and economic performance of berseem in optimized farming practices compared to traditional practice. Thus, maximum plant height, leaves plant−1, branches plant−1, plant weight, fodder and seed yield, net profit, and profit on 1(81.8cm,100.8,36.0,19.3(g),72.0t,829.30kgha1,−1 (81.8 cm, 100.8, 36.0, 19.3 (g), 72.0 t, 829.30 kg ha−1, 1910.8 ha−1, $2.03 respectably) were measured from treatment 70:100:30 NPK kg ha−1 + 12 irrigations at 15 days intervals, which is recommended to the farmers of synonymic agro-environmental conditions. Furthermore, the treatment 70:100:30 NPK kg ha−1 + 8 irrigations was also better with the aspect of satisfactory outcome and 33% less use of water.
... The maximum SMY were reported 60 DAS, whereas, the minimum SMY were reported 120 DAS, conversely, maximum methane yield ha -1 were found 105 DAS, whereas the minimum were reported at 60 DAS ( 60 DAS can be ascribed to lower lignin concentrations, because lower lignin concentrations resulted in earlier and better digestibly of dry matter which leads to higher specific methane yield. In addition, higher lignin concentrations substantially reduced the DM digestibility (Yosef et al., 2009) and ultimately the specific methane yield. Similarly, despite of the lower SMY at 105 DAS, the methane yield ha -1 increased due to higher dry matter production ha -1 basis. ...
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A two-year field study was conducted during 2016 and 2017 to determine the influence of harvesting times on biomass yield, quality and bio-methane yield of sorghum. Harvesting times considerably influenced the growth attributes, biomass quality and bio-methane yield. The maximum plant height, and dry matter (DM) yield were recorded 105 DAS, whilst lowest values of these parameters were recorded 60 DAS. Similarly, the maximum protein and sugar concentration were found 60 days after sowing (DAS), after that a substantial reduction in protein and sugar concentration were found with advancing maturity. Moreover, the highest acid and neutral detergent fiber, lignin, cellulose and hemi-cellulose were found 120 DAS whereas; minimum acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, lignin, cellulose and hemi-cellulose were observed 60 DAS. Likewise, maximum specific methane yield was recorded 60 DAS, while minimum specific methane yield were recorded 120 DAS, conversely, maximum methane yield ha⁻¹ were recorded after 105 DAS owing to higher dry matter yield ha⁻¹. Interestingly, we also found strong positive correlation between dry matter yield and methane yield and negative relationship between lignin concentrations and specific methane yield. In conclusion, sorghum crop can be harvested after, 105 DAS owing to high dry matter yield ha⁻¹ for maximizing its potential for bio-methane yield.
... Brachytic dwarf varieties with reduced internode lengths, were developed to decrease the lodging potential of BMR cultivars and to increase leaf to stem ratio (Bernard and Tao, 2015;Harper et al., 2017). Yosef et al. (2009) reported no yield differences between dwarf and traditional forage sorghum cultivars. However, in our study and in Brouk and Bean (2011) study, BMR forage sorghum hybrids had a lower yield compared with the traditional non-BMR forage sorghum hybrid. ...
Article
Maize (Zea mays L.) silage is the preferred feedstock choice for biogas production. However, other feedstocks or mixed feedstocks might have lower environmental impact than silage maize. The objectives of this study included: 1) to determine if forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and forage sorghum-maize intercropping can be a viable option to replace maize in forage and biogas production, and 2) to assess the environmental impact of systems involving maize and forage sorghum intercropping and comparing the impact of those, with conventional monocrop rotations. Replicated experiments were conducted in Carrington, Fargo, and Prosper, ND, in 2013 and in Fargo, ND in 2014. Maize for silage and grain and two forage sorghum cultivars (Brown Mid Rib (BMR) and non-BMR) were grown in monoculture and in intercropping. Treatments were a total of twelve; four monocultures, four inter-row intercropped maize-sorghum, and four within-row intercropped maize-sorghum. Results across environments indicated non-BMR forage sorghum monocultures produced similar or higher biomass yield compared with maize monocultures and maize-forage sorghum mixed cultures (inter-row and within-row). Biogas yield and forage quality produced by forage sorghum monocultures, and mixtures containing forage sorghum were similar to that of maize. Thus, forage sorghum can replace, at least in part, silage maize as feedstock for feed or biogas. Forage sorghum and forage sorghum-maize intercropping had lower environmental impact compared with maize in all categories evaluated. In conclusion, intercropping of forage sorghum with maize is a promising alternative to maize silage for forage or as feedstock for biogas production.
... In the current study, stem girth was affected by cultivars which is in agreement with the findings of Yousef et al. [22] and Ayub et al. [23] who reported a significant variation in stem girth among different cultivars of sorghum. ...
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Background A field experiment to evaluate the dry matter yield and nutritive value of Sugar graze and Jumbo plus under irrigation was conducted at three different plant spacings (15 x 30, 15 x 45, 15 x 60 cm) on a red–yellow latosol in the dry zone of Sri Lanka from March to June 2016. The design was a factorial randomised complete block design with three replications. Morphological parameters measured were plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and number of leaves per plant, inter-node elongation and stem girth. Chemical composition of forages, viz. crude protein, crude fibre, neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre and dry matter yield, was also determined. Results There was no difference in the chemical composition of Sugar graze and Jumbo plus 60 days after planting. Sugar graze had significantly higher values (p < 0.05) for stem girth, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area 60 days after planting. Sugar graze produced significantly higher dry matter yield than Jumbo plus. The narrowest spacing 15 × 30 cm gave the highest yield than the other 2 spacings. Conclusions It could be concluded that Sugar graze with 15 × 30 cm spacing will give more dry matter yield than Jumbo plus with similar chemical composition in the yala season of dry zone of Sri Lanka.
... Stem girth recorded in the present study was similar to that reported by Pahuja et al. (2014) in India for stem girth of Sugar Graze (5.9 ± 0.21 cm at 50% flowering stage and 15 × 45 cm spacing). While Yosef et al. (2009) andAyub et al. (1999) found significant variation in stem diameter among different cultivars of sorghum, cultivar differences in our study were not statistically significant (P>0.05). ...
... Stem girth recorded in the present study was similar to that reported by Pahuja et al. (2014) in India for stem girth of Sugar Graze (5.9 ± 0.21 cm at 50% flowering stage and 15 × 45 cm spacing). While Yosef et al. (2009) andAyub et al. (1999) found significant variation in stem diameter among different cultivars of sorghum, cultivar differences in our study were not statistically significant (P>0.05). ...
Article
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A field experiment to evaluate the growth parameters and fodder yields of Sugar Graze and Jumbo Plus under occasional irrigation was conducted at 3 different plant spacings (30 × 15, 30 × 45 and 30 × 60 cm) on a red-yellow latosol in the dry zone of Sri Lanka from August 2015 to January 2016. The design was a randomized block with 3 replications. Initial harvesting of fodder was done 60 days after planting and 2 ratoon yields were assessed at successive 60-day intervals. Plant spacing was inversely related (P<0.05) to dry matter (DM) yield with the narrowest spacing (30 × 15 cm) producing yields of 14.1 t DM/ha for Sugar Graze and 12.6 t DM/ha for Jumbo Plus at the initial harvest. Plant spacing also influenced leaf area, stem girth, root length and plant height in the initial harvest. Sugar Graze produced higher yields than Jumbo Plus at the initial and second ratoon harvests. Yields from ratoon crops were about 30% of those for the initial harvest. Further studies are needed to determine how these findings apply under the low-rainfall conditions of the yala season, and chemical analyses and animal feeding studies would provide valuable information on the nutritional value of the different forages.
... Our results supported the findings of Huang et al. (2012) they reported that delayed harvest stage produced lower crude protein concentration which might be due to the higher dry matter yield per land area. Differences in crude protein content among genotypes were also reported by Carmi et al. (2005); Miron et al. (2005); Miron et al. (2006); Yosef et al. (2009). They reported that crude protein concentration was maximum at the first harvest stage and declined with maturity of plant due to increase in concentration of acid and neutral detergent fiber and lignin. ...
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The study was conducted to investigate the fodder quality of four maize cultivars; DK919, 30R50, 31R88 and 6621 as influenced by harvest time at Agronomic Research Area of University of Sargodha. Maize cultivars were harvested at three different times viz. 80, 90 and 100 days after sowing (DAS). Significant differences were recorded among the cultivars for plant height, acid and neutral detergent fiber contents, lignin and crude protein. Maximum acid detergent fiber content, neutral detergent fiber content and lignin were observed at 100 DAS while crude protein was maximum at 80 DAS. However, plant height was remained unaffected with respect to harvest times. Moreover, maize cultivars had distinct differences in plant height and fodder quality parameters. Maximum plant height and crude protein were recorded in cultivar 31R88. The cultivar DK919 showed maximum values of acid detergent fiber content and neutral detergent fiber while lignin content was higher in V6621. Fodder quality parameters of cultivars 31R88, DK919 and V6621 were superior than 31R88 under the present climatic conditions of Sargodha.
... The CP contents of crops is conflict with results of previous studies noting that reduced irrigation led to a decrease (Yosef et al., 2009) or an increase (Jahansouz et al., 2014) in the CP content of forages. Indeed, our data did not indicate any effect of irrigation on CP content, as reported for maize (Islam et al., 2012). ...
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ABSTRACT To investigate the changes in irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) and some agronomic and nutritional characteristics of forage maize and sorghum cultivars (cvs) irrigated in shallow soil, two maize and seven sorghum cvs were evaluated in rain-fed (NIR) and irrigated (IR) field conditions for a3-year period. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in a split-plot arrangement. The irrigation increased plant height of forages whereas decreased metabolizable energy and relative feed values. There was an advantage for sorghum cvs over maize cvs regarding to agronomic and nutritional traits in shallow soil, irrespective of irrigation. The IR-cvs had higher yield and nutritional quality compared to the NIR-cvs. The IWUE values of Jumbo, Grazer, Hayday, El Rey, and Gozde cvs were higher than those of other sorghum cvs. The studied cvs, except for El Rey (the highest) and Rox(the lowest) had similar IWUE values. The plant heights and dry matter (DM), digestible DM (DDM)and crude protein (CP) yields of sorghum cvs were greater than those of maize cvs, except for Rox and Early sumac. When cvs classes were compared for the yields of DM, DDM, and CP, the classes ranked in the following order: Rx-893 = Karadeniz Yildizi = Rox = Early Sumac ≤ Gözde = Grazer = Hayday= Jumbo = El Rey. ÖZET Sığ toprakta, sulanan yemlik mısır ve sorgum çeşitlerinin sulama suyu kullanım etkinliği (SSKE) vebazı tarımsal ve besin değeri özellikleri için; iki mısır ve yedi sorgum çeşidi, doğal yağış alan (YA) vedoğal yağış artı sulama yapılan (SU) tarla koşullarında 3 yıllık bir sürede değerlendirilmiştir. Deneme,tesadüf bloklarında bölünen bölünmüş parseller deneme desenine göre yürütülmüştür Sulama, yembitkilerinin bitki yüksekliğini artırırken, metabolik enerji ve nispi yem değerlerini düşürmüştür.Sulamadan bağımsız olarak, sığ toprakta agronomik ve besleme özellikleri bakımından sorgum çeşitlerimısır çeşitlerinden daha avantajlı bulunmuştur. Sulanan yemlik çeşitler, sulanmayan çeşitlere göre dahayüksek verim ve besleme kalitesine sahip olmuşlardır. Jumbo, Grazer, Hayday, El Rey ve Gözdeçeşitlerinin SSKE değerleri diğer sorgum çeşitlerinden daha yüksek bulunmuştur. El Rey (en yüksek)ve Rox (en düşük) hariç, diğer tüm çeşitlerin SSKE değerleri benzer bulunmuştur. Rox ve Early Sumakhariç, sorgum çeşitlerinin bitki yükseklikleri ve kuru madde (KM), sindirilebilir KM (SKM) ve hamprotein (HP) verimleri, mısır çeşitlerinden daha yüksek olmuştur. KM, SKM ve HP bakımından çeşitlerkarşılaştırıldığında sıralama şu şekilde olmuştur: Rx-893 = Karadeniz Yildizi = Rox = Early Sumak ≤Gözde = Grazer = Hayday = Jumbo = El Rey.
... Varieties with the brachytic dwarf gene are shorter (approximately 1.8 m in height versus 3.6+ m) than normal FS and have shorter internodes without affecting the number of leaves, leaf size, maturity, or yield. Yosef et al. (2009) did not observe any difference in the in vitro or in vivo DM digestibility of silage produced from dwarf compared with normal FS hybrids. ...
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A 6-wk randomized design trial with a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was conducted to evaluate the production response of 48 Holstein lactating cows fed diets based on corn or forage sorghum silage harvested in the summer or fall and supplemented with soybean meal (SBM) or mechanically pressed cottonseed meal (CSM). Corn was planted in April and harvested in July (CSS), and a second crop was planted in August and harvested in November (CSF). Forage sorghum was planted in April, harvested in July (FSS), allowed to ratoon, and harvested again in November. Forages provided 41.67% of the dietary DM in the experimental diets, and CSM replaced a portion of the N provided by SBM. Cows were fed a corn silage–based diet for 2 wk before beginning the 4-wk experimental period. No differences were observed in DMI or milk yield among treatments. An interaction of forage source and protein supplement was observed for milk fat, which was lowest for CSF-CSM compared with the other treatments. No differences were observed in yield or concentration of milk protein, lactose, or solids-not-fat. An interaction was observed for efficiency of milk production, which was lowest for CSS-SBM and CSF-CSM compared with the other treatments. Concentrations of milk urea nitrogen were less for diets based on corn silage compared with forage sorghum and for CSM compared with SBM. Results of this trial indicate that diets based on corn silage or forage sorghum harvested in spring or fall and supplemented with CSM or SBM can support similar performance.
... Varieties with the brachytic dwarf gene are shorter (approximately 1.8 m in height versus 3.6+ m) than normal FS and have shorter internodes without affecting the number of leaves, leaf size, maturity, or yield. Yosef et al. (2009) did not observe any difference in the in vitro or in vivo DM digestibility of silage produced from dwarf compared with normal FS hybrids. ...
... Optimum irrigation scheduling gives more yield , about 75% reduction in leaf area, transpiration and biomass were noted by under shortage of water conditions. Low water also decreases crop quality (Yosef et al., 2009). elaborating that scheduling of irrigation had significant effect on all growth and yield parameters of berseem, 10 irrigations resulted 40 seeds head -1 , 3.55 g 1000-grain weight, 8530 kg ha -1 biological and 508 kg ha -1 seed yield and two irrigations gave 2.99 g 1000grain weight, 33 seeds head -1 and 429 kg ha -1 seed yield. ...
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Berseem is a main fodder crop of Pakistan for dairy farming. It is cultivated all over the country; however, unfortunately due to lack of nutritious forage, livestock sector suffering badly, because fodder crops including berseem do not cultivated extensively par need. Generally, farmers have perception that berseem is an uneconomical, produces low productivity to reduced inputs. Additionally, sufficient literature is not available that guide and satisfy to farmers, it’s reason could be negligence of researchers, much research was not conduct since past several years, consequently now attentions are raised to this crop. Therefore, a thrice replicated randomized complete block design (RCBD) field experiment was conducted during rabi season 2015-16 at Student’s Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, located at latitude 25.42 0N, longitude 68.45 0E and 25 m elevation above sea level. The treatments were factorial arranged, in which factor (A) comprised of 03 NPK rates (85:115:0 kg ha-1: Recommended, 70:100:30 kg ha-1, 55:85:15 kg ha-1) and factor (B) 03 irrigations levels (12 irrigations with 15 days interval: Recommended, 08 irrigations and 04 irrigations with 18 and 21 days intervals, respectively). The net plot size was 3 m × 4 m (12 m2) and sowing was done with broadcasting using recommended seed rate 27 kg ha-1. Source of NPK were Sona urea (46% N bag-1), DAP (46% P2O5 & 18% N bag-1) and SOP (50% K2O bag-1) of Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC). The soil was silty clay loam, had 0.58 EC, 8.1 pH, 0.76% OM, 0.086% N, 2.71 ppm P, 200 ppm K, CO3 and HCO3 were absent. The irrigation was canal water had 0.26 EC, 7.9 pH and 166 ppm TSS. Climate were also monitored entire crop period, there were no rain occurred in all months recorded, the average min.14.5 0C, max. 41.0 0C temperature measured in Nov., and May, relative humidity low 42.5% in May and higher 59.0% in Jan., reduced 0.1 octas cloudiess, 8.6 sunshine hours, 4.4 mm evaporation day-1 noted for Nov. While, highest wind speed 5.8 km hr-1 observed in Mar. In case of wind direction, it was to N during Nov., to Jan., and NE in the Feb., SW in Mar., to Apr. The observations were recorded for plant height (cm), leaves plant-1, branches plant-1, fresh weight plant-1 (g), green fodder yield (kg ha-1), dry fodder yield (kg ha-1) and seed yield (kg ha-1) following standard scientific producers. The fodder yield were obtained from two cuttings, and then crop left for seed yield. The statistics of data proved significant (p<0.05) vegetative and reproductive performance of berseem to various fertilizer rates and its combination with irrigation regimes, except dry fodder yield resulted slight non-significant (p>0.05) different only at interaction among some treatments. The maximum plant height 81.8 cm, 100.8 leaves plant-1, 36.0 branches plant-1, 19.3 (g) green fodder weight plant-1, 72000 kg green, 8100.0 kg dry fodder and 829.3 kg seed yield ha-1 were noted in 70:100:30 kg NPK ha-1 x 12 irrigations at 15 days interval, followed by 85:115:00 kg NPK ha-1 x 12 irrigations regime which were resulted 75.1 cm plant height, leaves plant-1 94.6, branches plant-1 32.0, fresh weight plant-1 17.8 (g), green herbages 7833.3 kg, dry fodder 7833.3 kg and seed yield 741.6 kg ha-1. While, interaction of 70:100:30 kg NPK ha-1 x 08 irrigation frequencies at 18 days gap were next with better plant height 71.1 cm, 87.0 leaves plant-1, 30.0 branches plant-1, 15.3 g green fodder weight plant-1, 58667 kg green, 7600.0 kg dry fodder and 698.3 kg seed yield ha-1. The lowest all the growth and yield traits were recorded at reduced 55:85:15 kg NPK ha-1 x 04 irrigations. Economically, application of 70:100:30 kg NPK ha-1 x 12 irrigations also proved beneficial and generated high gross revenue Rs. 294480, net profit Rs. 196765.5 ha-1 and Rs. 2.01 profit on Rs.-1 invested. Thus, it is recommended to the growers that berseem should be cultivated at 70:100:30 kg NPK ha-1 by applying of 12 irrigations at 15 days interval in irrigated tracks and 08 irrigations at 18 days extending gap in areas where shortage of irrigation is a major problem.
... 1987;Foyer et al., 1998). Plant stomas close under stress conditions and consequently carbohydrate, proline, glycine and protein metabolites accumulate in leaves (Pelleschi et al., 1997). Such results support the our current findings. Increasing irrigation levels increased ADF and NDF ratios and increasing nitrogen doses reduced ADF and NDF ratios.Yosef et al. (2009)reported increased NDF ratio and in vitro digestibility in sorghum with increasing water levels andIslam et al. (2012)reported the similar findings in maize. Increasing ADF and NDF ratios decrease crude protein and WSC ratios (Hargreaves et al. 2009). Increased nitrogen doses increase CP and in vitro digestibility (Cox and Charney, 2005) ...
... Increasing irrigation levels increased ADF and NDF ratios and increasing nitrogen doses reduced ADF and NDF ratios. Yosef et al. (2009) reported increased NDF ratio and in vitro digestibility in sorghum with increasing water levels and Islam et al. (2012) reported the similar findings in maize. Increasing ADF and NDF ratios decrease crude protein and WSC ratios (Hargreaves et al. 2009). ...
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The study was conducted to investigate the effects of different irrigation levels and nitrogen doses on yield, yield parameters, silage characteristics, digestibility, gas and methane production of corn silage. Three different irrigation levels (50%, 75% and 100% of depleted water) and 3 different nitrogen doses (100, 200 and 300 kg ha-1 N) were applied to corn silage. Experiments were implemented in split-split plots design with three replications during the growing seasons of 2013-2014. Plants were harvested at milk-dough stage and yield and morphologic characteristics were determined. Then, harvested plants were silaged and chemical characteristics were investigated. Irrigation level x nitrogen dose interaction was not found to be significant. Increasing nitrogen doses increased plant height, plant diameter, green herbage yield, crude protein, metabolic energy, gas production and organic matter digestibility and decreased pH levels, ADF and NDF ratios. Increased irrigation levels positively affected green herbage yield, plant height, plant diameter and increased ADF and NDF ratios. Gas production, metabolic energy and organic matter digestibility decreased with increasing irrigation levels. Increasing irrigation levels improved corn yields, but reduced the quality. On the other hand, increasing nitrogen doses had positive contributions both to yield and quality characteristics.
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Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi pengaruh perbandingan isi rumen sapi dan rumput odot pada pembuatan silase pakan komplit terhadap kandungan bahan kering, bahan organik dan kecernaan secara in vitro. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode eksperimental dengan menggunakan rancangan acak lengkap (RAL) terdiri dari 4 perlakuan 4 ulangan. Perlakuan yang diterapkan adalah P0: rumput odot 70% + konsentrat 30%, P1: isi rumen sapi 10% + rumput odot 60% + konsentrat 30%, P2: isi rumen sapi 20% + rumput odot 50% + konsentrat 30%, P3: isi rumen sapi 30% + rumput odot 40% + konsentrat 30%. Variabel yang diukur adalah kandungan bahan kering, bahan organik serta kecernaan bahan kering, bahan organik. Data dianalisis menggunakan Analysis of variance (ANOVA) dan dilanjutkan dengan uji jarak berganda Duncan. Hasil analisis statistik menunjukkan perlakuan berpengaruh sangat nyata (P<0,01) terhadap kandungan bahan kering dan bahan organik serta kecernaan bahan kering dan bahan organik. Disimpulkan bahwa semakin tinggi level isi rumen sapi dan menurunnya level rumput odot dalam silase pakan komplit meningkatkan kandungan bahan kering, namun kandungan bahan organik dan kecernaan in vitro menurun.
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Bu çalışma sorgum sudanotu melezi (SSM) çeşitlerinde (Nutri Honey ve Nutrima) farklı hasat uygulamalarına bağlı olarak toprak üstü ve toprak altı biomass üretimi ile yaprak ve sapların enerji içeriklerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla 2020-2021 yıllarında Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi araştırma alanında yürütülmüştür. Bölünmüş parseller deneme desenine göre 4 tekrarlamalı olarak kurulan araştırmada ana parselleri çeşitler (Nutri Honey ve Nutrima), alt parselleri ise biçim yükseklikleri (bitki boyu 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 cm olduğunda ve fizyolojik olum döneminde hasat) oluşturmuştur. Araştırmada bitkilerle ilgili olarak yeşil ot verimi, yaprak, sap ve salkım oranları, kök miktarı, yaprak ve sap kısımlarına ait TSBM, ME, NE ve SE değerleri incelenmiştir. Toplam yeşil ot verimleri biçimdeki bitki boyunun artışına bağlı olarak artmıştır. Nutri Honey çeşidinin toplam yeşil ot üretimi (7323.0 kg da-1) Nutrima’ya (7019.3 kg da-1) göre daha yüksek olmuştur. Bitkide büyümeye bağlı olarak yaprak oranları düşerken, sap ve salkım oranlarında artışlar olmuştur. Bitkilerde boy uzaması ile kök üretimi arasında olumlu ilişki olduğu ve boy uzunluğu arttıkça üretilen kök miktarının da arttığı tespit edilmiştir. Yaprakların TSBM içerikleri saplara göre %4.82, ME içerikleri %5.63, NE içerikleri %5.43 ve SE içerikleri %4.84 daha yüksek olmuştur. Yapılan çalışmanın sonunda benzer ekolojilerde kaba yem kaynağı olarak her iki sorgum sudanotu melezi çeşitlerinin yetiştirilmesi ve 150 cm bitki boyuna ulaştıktan sonra hasat edilerek yetiştirme döneminde iki kere verim alınması önerilmektedir.
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Introduction: Forage sorghum is a valuable plant that tolerates environmental stresses such as drought and heat, which can be used for direct grazing, green forage, dry forage and silage (Farhadi et al. 2022). One of the most important advantages of sorghum is having diverse genotypes that allow the use of appropriate cultivars based on the type of consumption at the time required by the farmer for their farm animals (Khalilian et al. 2022). Forage quality is highly correlated with fiber components such as NDF (neutral detergent insoluble fiber), ADF (acid detergent insoluble fiber) and lignin (Gholami 2014). To compare forage quality, agronomists and livestock nutritionists use common shortcut units such as RFV (relative value of forage) and RFQ (relative quality of forage), which are highly correlated with the amount of milk and meat produced by livestock (Moore and Andersander 2002). Relative Forage Value (RFV) is a quality comparison index based on digestible dry matter content (DDM) and livestock forage consumption (DMI), which is obtained indirectly from NDF and ADF (Baghdadi et al. 2023). Relative forage quality (RFQ) is also a quality comparison index based on total digestible nutrients (TDN) and DMI, which is more accurate than the RFV index due to NDF digestibility (Moore and Andersander 2002). Due to the production potential and high growth rate in forage sorghum genotypes and also the high resistance of this plant to environmental stresses, this plant seems to have a good ability to produce forage in semi-arid regions (Khazaei et al. 2023). However, there is little information about forage quality in domestic and foreign cultivars and hybrids of forage sorghum in the country and most of the available information emphasize the quantitative performance of sorghum cultivars; Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the potential of forage production in domestic and foreign genotypes of forage sorghum and considering both forage quantity and quality indices to the most suitable domestic and foreign cultivars of forage sorghum for high forage production and nutritional value be properly identified. Material and methods: Eighteen cultivars, lines and hybrids of forage sorghum were evaluated, planted and harvested at Karaj Seed and Plant Breeding Research Institute. In order to determine the dry matter yield and also to evaluate the quality traits, five plants from each plot were randomly selected and weighed in an oven at 60 ° C until reaching a constant dry weight. Finally, dry matter yield was calculated in the samples. To determine the quality traits, the dried samples were ground. Qualitative traits of forage including crude protein content, ADF, NDF and lignin were determined by the Iranian Institute of Animal Sciences Research by chemical analysis (AOAC, 2002). The digestibility of the samples was determined by the gas test method and the amount of metabolizable energy in the forage was estimated using the amount of gas produced in the twenty-fourth hour and the amount of crude protein (Menke and Steingass, 1988). The means were compared by LSD method at the level of 0.05 probability. Results and discussion: The results showed that the studied genotypes in terms of plant height, number of tillers and number of leaves per plant were significantly different at the level of one percent probability, while the effect of genotype on stem diameter was not significant. Among the internal genotypes, maximum fresh forage yield (103.84 t ha-1) was obtained by Pegah cultivar and minimum yield (63.16 t ha-1) was obtained by KFS2 line. The highest dry matter yield (20.61 t ha-1) was obtained by Siloking cultivar and the lowest (8.83 t ha-1) was obtained by Juicy Sweet BMR SSH.2 cultivar. The findings of the present study are in agreement with the results reported in earlier research conducted in the same field (Nabi et al. 2006; Amanullah et al. 2007; Khazaei et al. 2020; Khalilian et al. 2022). There was a narrow difference in forage crude protein content so that the average of crude protein in all studied genotypes was 6.357, internal genotypes were 6.363 and external genotypes 6.354%. The mean NDF in all studied genotypes was 60.36%, internal genotypes 62.06% and external genotypes were 59.51%. Among the studied genotypes, the highest amount of NDF (69.75%) was obtained in Titan cultivar and the lowest NDF content (54.25%) in PHFS-27 cultivar. The average lignin content in all studied genotypes was 1.78, internal genotypes were 1.71 and external genotypes 1.82%. The average metabolizable energy in all studied genotypes was 2.41, internal genotypes 2.33 and external genotypes 2.44 Mcal per kg of dry matter. Juicy Sweet BMR SSH.2 and PFS-21 cultivars had the highest ME levels with 2.67 and 2.64 Mcal of metabolizable energy per kilogram of dry matter, respectively, while Speedfeed and Titan cultivars had the highest metabolizable energy (Produced 2.13 and 2.17 Mcal kg-1, respectively. The average relative value of forage (RFV) in all studied genotypes was 99.74, domestic genotypes 96.96 and foreign genotypes was 101.13%. The maximum RFV index among external genotypes was obtained by PHFS-27 cultivar (115.75%) and among domestic genotypes by Pegah cultivar (111.38%); while the minimum relative value of forage was observed among foreign genotypes by Titan cultivar (76.28%) and among domestic genotypes by Speedfeed cultivar (79.73%). The results obtained from the current study are congruent with the outcomes of previous investigations (Bean et al. 2011; Singh et al. 2018). Conclusion: Siloking cultivar, while producing the driest matter per unit of the area had a high rate of relative forage quality index, is introduced as the most suitable cultivar in terms of quantity and quality of forage. Among domestic genotypes, the Speedfeed hybrid was able to produce the highest dry matter yield, but did not have a good quality. Therefore, planting Speedfeed cultivar to produce forage will be recommended in situations where only the quantity of forage is important for the farmer. Pegah cultivar, which had good dry matter yield and good forage quality, is introduced as the best domestic genotype for forage production.
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The experiment was conducted to determine optimum plant spacing and suitable variety and as well as to identify the interaction effect of varieties and Intra-row spacing on the yield of sorghum. The experiment having a factorial arrangement of three varieties (Geremew, Lalo and farmer’s local variety) and three intra-row levels (10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm) was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. According to the current results, varieties were significantly (p<0.05) affected by all the parameters (days to maturity, plant height, panicle length, thousand seed weight and total grain yield) except stand count. The maximum days to maturity and total grain yield (205.2 days and 5628.1 kg ha-1 respectively) were obtained from Lalo. The highest thousand seed weight (23.1 g) was recorded from Geremew and at it takes a short period for maturity (119.5 days). Similarly, intra-row spacing significantly (p<0.05) affected the panicle length and stand count. The highest panicle length (28.15 cm) was recorded in 15 cm intra-row spaced plants. The maximum stand count (78.6 % and 83.6%) was obtained from 15 cm and 20 cm spaced plants respectively. Generally, the outcome of this study revealed that even though the yield was statistically non-significant to intra-raw spacing, at 15cm and 20cm the grain yield was a maximum of 4178.5 kg ha-1 and 4190.9 kg ha-1, respectively. Therefore, among the intra-row spacing 20 cm intra-row spacing for its minimized planting materials (seed) and easy management and among the varieties, Lalo could be promoted in study areas and similar agro-ecologies. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 12(2): 138-143, December 2022
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Bu araştırma, dallı darı (Panicum virgatum L.) çeşitlerinin farklı biçim devrelerinde ot verimi ve kalitesi ile silaj kalitesinin belirlenmesi amacıyla, 2019-2020 yıllarında Siirt Üniversitesi, Ziraat Fakültesi, Araştırma ve Uygulama Arazisi’nde yürütülmüştür. Araştırmada dallı darının Kanlow, Shelter, Shawnee, BoMaster, Alamo, Trailblazer, Cave in Rock ve Long Island çeşitleri ile tesadüf blokları deneme desenine göre 4 tekrarlamalı olarak kurulan çok yıllık deneme alanı tesisi araştırmanın yerini oluşturmuştur. Her bir çeşit ve tekerrürü bazında üst parselasyon yapılarak biçim devresi için parseller dizayn edilmiştir. Çeşit ve biçim devresinin araştırma konusu olarak ele alındığı çalışmada; biçim devresi olarak çiçeklenme öncesi, % 50 çiçeklenme ve tam çiçeklenme dönemleri incelenmiştir. Buna göre çeşitler ana parsellere, biçim devreleri alt parsellere getirilerek araştırma, tesadüf bloklarında bölünmüş parseller deneme desenine göre yürütülmüştür. Çalışmada bitki boyu, sap kalınlığı, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığı, klorofil içeriği, kardeş ağırlığı, yeşil ve kuru ot verimi, ham protein (HP) oranı, HP verimi, asit deterjanda çözünmeyen lif (ADF) oranı, nötral deterjanda çözünmeyen lif (NDF) oranı ve nispi yem değeri gibi ot verimi ve kalitesi ile ilgili parametreler ele alınmıştır. Silaj kalitesi çalışması kapsamında ise; koku, strüktür ve renk gibi fiziksel özellikler, kuru madde (KM) oranı ve pH, laktik asit (LA), asetik asit (AA), bütirik asit (BA)’ten oluşan silaj kimyasal özellikleri ile Fleig puanı (FP) gibi parametreler incelenmiştir. Araştırmada, yapılan istatistiksel analizler sonucunda, çeşitlerin ve biçim devrelerinin incelenen hemen her parametreler üzerinde anlamlı etkilerinin olduğu saptanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, yılların ve biçim devrelerinin ortalaması olarak dallı darı çeşitlerinin; bitki boyunun 108.4-174.1 cm, sap kalınlığının 2.65-4.80 mm, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığının 30.1-34.4 oC, klorofil içeriğinin % 29.3-34.6, kardeş ağırlığının 3.35-12.76 g, yeşil ot veriminin 2170.3-5108.6 kg/da, kuru ot veriminin 908.6-2114.6 kg/da, HP oranının % 3.02-5.97, HP veriminin 52.3-64.7 kg/da, ADF oranının % 39.66-45.31, NDF oranının % 75.49-83.44 ve nispi yem değerinin 59.82-71.52 arasında değişkenlik gösterdiği belirlenmiştir. Biçim devresi ilerledikçe; bitki boyu, sap kalınlığı, bitki örtüsü sıcaklığı, kardeş ağırlığı, yeşil ve kuru ot verimi ile otun HP verimi, kuru otun içerdiği ADF ve NDF oranı artarken, klorofil içeriği, otun HP oranı ve nispi yem değeri azalmıştır. Silajı yapılan dallı darı çeşitlerinin koku puanı 12.1-13.9, strüktür puanı 3.4-4.0, renk puanı 1.6-2.0 ve toplam fiziksel puanı 17.2-19.9 arasında değişmiştir. Araştırmada, yılların ve biçim devrelerinin ortalamasına göre dallı darı çeşitlerine ait silajların; KM, pH, LA, AA ve BA ile FP değerleri sırasıyla % 34.3-40.6, 4.52-4.73, % 0.99-1.56, % 0.35-0.63, % 0.056-0.163 ve 85.3-98.2 arasında değişim göstermiştir. Toplam fiziksel puan ve FP değerlerine göre çeşitler genel olarak “çok iyi” kalite sınıfında yer almışlardır. Biçim devresinin ilerlemesine bağlı olarak silaj KM oranı, pH ve FP değerleri artarken; silaj renk puanının, LA, AA ve BA oranlarının azaldığı tespit edilmiştir. Yarı kurak iklim koşullarında elde edilen bu sonuçlara göre dallı darı bitkisi yüksek ot verimi nedeniyle hayvancılık açısından alternatif yem kaynağı olarak ümitvar görünmektedir. Bu anlamda, özellikle Kanlow çeşidi öne çıkmış; genel olarak da ova ekotipine sahip çeşitler (Kanlow, Alamo ve BoMaster) daha yüksek verim potansiyeline sahip olmuşlardır. Ancak incelenen çeşitlerin, araştırmaya konu olan tüm biçim devrelerinde düşük kalitede yem üretmişlerdir. Silaj kalitesi iyi olan dallı darının kuru maddesindeki yapısal karbonhidratların yüksek oranında bulunması nedeniyle vejetasyonun erken dönemlerinde silaj yapılması daha uygun olacaktır.
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Soil moisture availability exerts significant impacts on the yield and productivity of crop plants. Moisture availability becomes more critical in arid climates, as irrigation is the single source to fulfill the moisture requirements of the plants. Therefore, the level of applied irrigation water and time interval between two irrigations significantly alter the yield and quality of produce. This two-year study determined the effects of different irrigation levels and intervals on yield, quality and water use efficiency of silage maize. The experiment was laid out according to randomized complete block design with split plot arrangements. The main plots consisted of irrigation intervals (3 and 6 days), whereas sub-plots included four irrigation levels (125%, 100%, 75% and 50% of Class-A pan evaporation) based on class A pan evaporation. Drip irrigation method was used to supply the required amount of the water according to the treatments. The annual water consumption rate (ETc) varied between 397 and 725 mm, and between 402 and 759 mm in different study years. The silage yield (FY) during the first year ranged between 36.44 and 81.69 t ha-1 , and between 38.31 and 78.96 t ha-1 during the second year. The FY was significantly altered by different irrigation intervals (p ≤ 0.05) and irrigation levels (p ≤ 0.01). The dry matter ratio (DMR) (a yield component) was not altered by irrigation intervals and irrigation levels. However, the other yield components such as amount of dry matter yield (DMY) and plant height were significantly (p ≤ 0.01) affected by irrigation levels. Crude protein (CP) content significantly differed (p ≤ 0.05) among irrigation intervals and irrigation levels (p ≤ 0.01). However, the remaining quality parameters, i.e., acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude fiber were only affected by irrigation levels. The pH remained unaffected by irrigation levels and intervals. Leaf area index (LAI) gradually increased after sowing and reached to the highest values at 70-80 days after sowing. Water productivity (WP) and irrigation water productivity (IWP) did not differ among applied irrigation levels and irrigation intervals. It is concluded that frequent irrigations increased silage yield of corn with drip irrigation under arid climatic conditions. However, low water application during the whole growing season caused significant decreases in silage yield.
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Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh lama ensilase yang berbeda terhadap kadar bahan kering (BK), kadar bahan organik (BO), kadar protein kasar (PK) silase sorgum varietas Pahat. Rancangan yang digunakan adalah Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) dengan 3 perlakuan dan 7 ulangan. Materi yang digunakan adalah hijauan sorgum yang dipanen pada umur 70 hari terdiri dari batang, daun, dan malai. Perlakuan pada penelitian ini adalah : (R1) lama penyimpanan 3 minggu, (R2) lama penyimpanan 5 minggu, (R3) lama penyimpanan 7 minggu. Hasil analisis keragaman menunjukkan bahwa perlakuan lama penyimpanan memberikan pengaruh yang berbeda sangat nyata (P<0,01) terhadap kadar bahan kering, kadar bahan organik, kadar protein kasar silase sorgum varietas Pahat. Uji beda nyata jujur (BNJ) menunjukkan bahwa lama penyimpanan 3 minggu (R1) menghasilkan kadar bahan kering yang tidak berbeda dengan lama penyimpanan 5 minggu (R3) dan nyata lebih rendah dari lama penyimpanan 7 minggu. Sedangkan kadar bahan organik dan protein kasar pada lama penyimpanan 3 minggu nyata lebih rendah dari lama penyimpanan 5 minggu dan 7 minggu. Lama penyimpanan 5 minggu menghasilkan kadar bahan kering, bahan organik dan protein kasar yang nyata lebih rendah dari lama penyimpanan 7 minggu. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan lama ensilase meningkatkan kandungan bahan kering, bahan organik, dan protein kasar sorgum varietas pahat ratun ke-1 sebagai pakan ruminansia. Kadar bahan kering, bahan organik, dan protein kasar tertinggi pada lama penyimpanan 7 minggu.Kata Kunci : sorgum, silase, lama pemeraman, bahan kering, bahan organik, protein kasar
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A field experiment to evaluate the growth parameters and fodder yields of Sugar Graze and Jumbo Plus under occasional irrigation was conducted at 3 different plant spacings (30 × 15, 30 × 45 and 30 × 60 cm) on a red-yellow latosol in the dry zone of Sri Lanka from August 2015 to January 2016. The design was a randomized block with 3 replications. Initial harvesting of fodder was done 60 days after planting and 2 ratoon yields were assessed at successive 60-day intervals. Plant spacing was inversely related (P<0.05) to dry matter (DM) yield with the narrowest spacing (30 × 15 cm) producing yields of 14.1 t DM/ha for Sugar Graze and 12.6 t DM/ha for Jumbo Plus at the initial harvest. Plant spacing also influenced leaf area, stem girth, root length and plant height in the initial harvest. Sugar Graze produced higher yields than Jumbo Plus at the initial and second ratoon harvests. Yields from ratoon crops were about 30% of those for the initial harvest. Further studies are needed to determine how these findings apply under the low-rainfall conditions of the yala season, and chemical analyses and animal feeding studies would provide valuable information on the nutritional value of the different forages. Keywords: Dry matter yield, forage sorghum, ratoon crop, red yellow latosol, row width
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A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of harvesting time on growth, yield and quality of three forage sorghum cultivars at agronomy research farm, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Pakistan. The experiment was comprised of four harvesting intervals (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% flowering) and three cultivars (Sorghum 2011, JS-263 and JS-2002) for evaluation. The data was recorded for yield and quality relating traits viz., plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area per plant, stem diameter, plant density, forage yield, dry matter yield, dry matter (%), crude protein contents (%), crude fiber contents (%) and ash contents (%). The growth yield and quality parameters differed among the cultivars. As for harvesting intervals growth and yield was increased with delaying the harvest and maximum forage yield (56.04 t ha-1) was obtained when harvesting was done at 100% flowering. But quality was decreased with each delayed harvest. It is concluded that for obtaining higher forage yield of good quality the sorghum cultivar JS-2002 can be sown under Faisalabad conditions. Harvesting at 100% flowering is good for obtaining higher forage yield and harvesting at 25% flowering is good for obtaining high quality forage. Harvesting at 50% flowering is best because at this stage sorghum forage have a good quality level and good yield.
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In the present study seven locally available advance lines of sorghum were investigated for their performance in term of forage material and nutritional profile of dry matter. The genotypes Hegari, Noor, F-214, JS-2002, F-207, PC-1 and F-9917 were compared in randomized complete block design. The significant variations in fresh and dry forage material as well as their nutritional values were noted among the genotypes. The genotype Hegari was the best performer for forage material and next to follow was Noor. The genotypes Hegari produced dry matter (22.53 t ha-1) with crude protein (8.29 %) and ash contents (9.60). Furthermore, its dry matter has the lowest value for crude fibre. The higher values produced by Hegari for more dry matter and nutritive values can be attributed to higher leaf area. The genotypes F-214 and F-9917 had been very poor for crude protein and ash contents, respectively. The genotype F-9917 must not be recommended for forage purposes due to its lower ash and higher crude fibre contents in dry matter. Taking a better variety in respect to dry matter and nutritional contents, the Hegari should be preferred over the tested varieties for forage purpose.
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Most of the commercial varieties of forage sorghum belong to the tall types. Use of low types is limited, mainly due to their lower forage productivity. Recently a new low variety of forage sorghum, Tal, was developed in Israel. This study examined effects of irrigation level (IL) and plant density (PD) on Tal productivity and quality, as measured by field performance, chemical composition and in vitro digestibility. The optimal harvest stage for getting the best combination of yield amount and forage quality was explored. Irrigation included levels of 20, 100 and 180mm, and PD consisted of 200,000, 260,000 and 330,000plants/ha. Harvests were carried out at maturity stages of early heading (EH) and soft dough (SD). Tal resistance to lodging was high. High irrigation increased plant height and dry matter (DM) yield in both harvests, and enhanced the content of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and lignin, at EH. In most cases, additional irrigation decreased DM content, DM ratio of leaves/stems, and in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD). Plant density did not affect significantly plant height or DM yield at either harvest, but did affect DM digestibility at EH. Maturation from EH to SD increased considerably DM content under all irrigation levels, and DM yield only under high irrigation. Maturation increased DM allocation to the panicles and enhanced their DM digestibility. Tal has the potential to become a successful forage crop, which under sufficient irrigation attains the best digestible DM and NDF yields at SD.
Chapter
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Grain yields of tropically-adapted (TA) sorghum hybrids far exceed those obtained with temperately-adapted (TE) sorghums in south Texas and other more tropical areas. This study was conducted to determine if photoperiod, temperature, and/or photoperiod-temperature interactions were responsible for the observed differences between TA and TE sorghum hybrids.Plants were grown in temperature-controlled glasshouses at two temperatures, 30/20 and 35/25 (day/night, °C). Three planting dates were used to attain different photoperiod regimes.Generally, the TA hybrid ATx623 × RTx430 maintained more green leaves, as compared to the TE hybrid ATx × RTx415. Both TA and TE hybrids senesced the same number of leaves regardless of temperature. Differences in leaf area at physiological maturity between TA and TE hybrids were more related to leaf number/plant and leaf-blade area than the number of leaves senesced.Phenology and leaf area development varied with planting date, temperature, and hybrid. The duration of vegetative development (GS1) was greater for TA hybrids when grown under short daylengths and low temperature. At high temperatures, GS1 was similar for TA and TE hybrids under the short daylengths of planting date 3, but differed among hybrids when grown under the longer daylengths of planting dates 1 and 2. Also, under short daylengths the hybrids derived from TA parents produced more leaves and greater leaf area only at the high temperature. Under the long daylength (planting date 2), TA hybrids produced more leaves and greater leaf area than the TE hybrid, irrespective of temperature. These findings suggest that sorghums converted for U.S. adaptation still exhibit some degree of photoperiodic sensitivity regarding phenological development and plant growth, but the TA hybrids have the ability to alter their phenological development and plant growth to maximize their leaf area under a wider range of environmental conditions.
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The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the ensilage process on yield, composition and in vitro digestibility of three new forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) varieties: Silobuster, Supersile 20, and the brown-midrib hybrid BMR-101. The commercial forage sorghum FS-5 was used as reference variety. Varieties were irrigated during summer with 242mm water and harvested at their soft dough (SD) stage. All varieties were tall (>2.5m), and their dry matter (DM) content at harvest was similar (270–280g DM/kg green forage). FS-5 and BMR-101 contained higher proportion of heads on the account of lower proportion of leaves in FS-5, and stems in BMR-101. In all varieties the leaves tended to contain more neutral detergent fiber (aNDFom) and were characterized by lower DM digestibility as compared with the stems and heads organs. Silobuster and BMR-101 suffered from high lodging (43–65%), whereas FS-5 and Supersile 20 were characterized by moderated levels of lodging (27–30%) at harvest. Dry matter yield of the green forage was similar (15.3–16.5t/ha) in all varieties. The ensilage of all varieties in glass silos resulted in moderated DM losses (
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Two exploratory experiments with re-cycled (ratooned) grain sorghums (hybrid Texas R.S. 610 and standard variety Alpha) and forage sorghums (hybrid Sudax and standard variety Sugardrip) were carried out at Kimberley Research Station to provide data for the initial assessment of sorghum production possibilities in the Ord River area. Re-cycling of sorghum led to progressive reduction in grain and dry matter yields. Grain yield reduction was greater when stubble was cut at the header height (approximately 40 inches) than when it was cut at 6 to 8 inches above ground level and removed. Grain and dry matter yields were higher for Texas R.S. 610 than for Alpha, while dry matter yield of Sudax was also higher than that of Sugardrip. Nitrogen application at 50 lb N an acre and 100 lb N an acre increased grain yields of Texas R.S. 610 and Alpha. It also increased dry matter yields of these two varieties and of Sugardrip, while dry matter yield of Sudax did not respond above the 50 lb N an acre rate of application. Relative, but not absolute, reduction of grain and dry matter yields in successive cycles was diminished by nitrogen application.
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If agronomic characteristics could be used as criteria for judging quality of corn and sorghum cultivars for silage, the selection of genotypes best suited for silage would be facilitated. The objective of this study was to determine if agronomic characteristics of corn (Zea mays L.) and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, S. sudanense (Piper) Stapf, and their hybrid] cultivars are related to their silage quality. Over a period of 3 years, 49 silages, involving 11 corn cultivars and 14 sorghum cultivars, were produced and fed to sheep in conventional feeding trials. Eleven of the 14 sorghum cultivars were the sweet-stem silage type. We measured fodder yield, height, %dry matter, and % plant parts [stems, ears or heads (EH), and leaves]. The quality measurements were acid detergent fiber (ADF); in vivo measurements, with sheep, of digestible dry matter (DDM); average daily gain (ADG); and dry matter intake/animal/day (DMI). The highest correlations were obtained between % stems or % EH and quality for both corn and sorghum silages. Percent leaves and plant height were in some cases highly correlated with quality measurements, but these relationships could be explained by high correlations of % leaves and plant height to % EH and stems. ADF concentration was lower in corn silage (29.0%) than in sorghum silage (34.9%). The low ADG of sheep fed sorghum silage (18.1 g compared to 64.5 g for corn silage) was primarily due to low DMI (649 g) and DDM (55.6%) of the sorghum silage compared to the high DMI (777 g) and high DDM (63.8%) of corn silage. A regression analysis showed that nearly equal amounts of DDM intake above maintenance were needed for a unit of ADG from corn silage and from sorghum silage. Please view the pdf by using the Full Text (PDF) link under 'View' to the left. Copyright © . .
Article
A simple technique for the determination in vitro of the dry- or organic-matter digestibility of small (0·5 g) samples of dried forages is described. It involves incubation first with rumen liquor and then with acid pepsin. Using 146 samples of grass, clover and lucerne of known in vivo digestibility (Y), the regression equation Y= 0·99 X– 1·01 (S.E. ± 2·31) has been calculated, where X=in vitro dry-matter digestibility. This technique has been used for the study of the digestibilities of plant breeder's material, of the leaf and stem fractions of herbage and of herbage consumed by animals.
Article
ABSTRACTA study of 16 silages made at the Hannah Research Institute and 22 silages made at the Grassland Research Institute showed highly significant positive relationships hetween the DM percentages of the material ensiled and the resultant silage. Using regression equations derived from this data, and from a record of the presence or absence of effluent, it was calculated that the average minimum DM content of herbage for ensiling which would produce no effluent was 22.9%. To ensure a margin of safety against production of effluent, a minimum DM content of 24.7% in the herbage was calculated from the confidence limits. To obtain this DM content, herhage will normally require wilting; effluent production should then be negligible.
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Crop simulation may provide an inexpensive means to evaluate the feasibility of different cropping practices to optimize productivity and profitability. One practice, ratoon-cropping, may increase productivity and reduce per-unit production costs associated with conservation tillage farming systems in tropical and subtropical regions. sorkam, a dynamic plant growth model for grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], was used to evaluate the potential of rainfed ratoon grain sorghum over diverse climatic regions of Texas. Eleven independent data sets collected in the U.S.A. from sites in Georgia and Texas were used to determine the model's accuracy. The model produced realistic estimates of grain yield for planted, ratoon, and combined (planted + ratoon) crops. Simulated grain yields usually were within 25% of the observed yield for the planted, ratoon, and combined crops with cultivars that produced the highest ratoon grain yield at each location. Ratoon grain yield results of multi-year simulations (10–30 years) from 14 locations over the eastern half of Texas using historic, location-specific, meteorological data indicated that the probability of obtaining ratoon grain yield > 3.0 Mg/ha was confined to the upper coastal plain region of Texas. The area best suited for rainfed ratoon grain sorghum appeared to be confined south and east of a line running from west of Corpus Christi to Beeville to College Station to west of Center, Texas. Use of crop models can play an important role in identifying strengths and weaknesses of potential cropping systems when used in combination with historical climatic data and/or computer weather generators.
Article
The effect of growth stage and re-growth on the nutritional and ensilage characteristics of two new sorghum hybrids, BMR-101 and Silobuster, and one commercial variety, FS-5, was examined in this study. Varieties were sampled during the summer at the early heading (EH) stage and were harvested at the soft dough (SD) stage. Additional irrigation enabled autumn re-growth and a second harvest. Plants of FS-5 and BMR-101 were resistant to lodging at EH. However, BMR-101 and Silobuster suffered from high lodging at the SD stage of the summer harvest. Dry matter (DM) content of FS-5 and BMR-101 at EH was below 250 g kg−1. DM yields of the varieties were similar at the summer harvest and higher than their respective re-growth cuts. Ensilage DM losses were moderate and similar across varieties. Hemicellulose of SD plants was partly solubilised and most of the water-soluble carbohydrate fermented, yielding lactic acid, ethanol and volatile fatty acids (VFA), and a pH < 4. In vitro DM digestibility of varieties was similar in summer silages, but lower in the respective re-growth silages of FS-5 and BMR-101, reflecting the higher content of neutral detergent fibre and lignin in the re-growth silages. The summer plus re-growth cumulative yields of digestible DM of the respective FS-5, Silobuster and BMR-101 silages were 14.7, 16.6 and 14.5 t ha−1. The commercial variety, FS-5, may have some advantage over BMR-101 and Silobuster owing to its relative resistance to lodging in addition to its high yield and good ensilage properties. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry
Article
A new forage sorghum entitled Pnina was developed in Israel. Pnina, harvested at early milk (EM) and hard dough (HD) stages of maturity, was compared with commercial sorghum variety FS-5 and a sorghum BMR/Sudan hybrid Nutriplus. Plants grew during summer and were irrigated with 190 mm water. Pnina was semi-dwarf (1.35 m height) and absolutely resistant to lodging. The tall varieties FS-5 and Nutriplus suffered at HD from high lodging. Pnina was more leafy than Nutriplus and FS-5. The dry matter (DM) content of FS-5 and Nutriplus were at EM below the level recommended for ensilage and elevated slightly at HD, whereas DM content of Pnina was higher. Crop yields of all varieties at HD were similar and ranged between 13.3 and 14.7 t ha−1 DM. Dry matter losses during ensilage and silage pH were similar in the three varieties at HD. In vitro DM digestibility of HD silages ranged between 62.5 and 67.1%. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content was higher in Pnina silages. Yields of digestible silage per hectare, were similar in the three varieties harvested at HD (8.4 to 8.8 t ha−1 DM); however, yield of digestible NDF per hectare was higher in Pnina. Data suggest that the new variety Pnina may have field advantage over the other varieties of this study. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry
Article
The response of forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] to three irrigation treatments in a semiarid environment was studied in the field for two seasons. Treatments were light frequent, moderate less frequent, and heavy infrequent irrigation, where irriga-tion water at 8 mm day–1 was delivered every 7, 10, and 13 days, respectively. These irrigation regimes meant heavier water inputs with increasing irrigation frequency. Plant heights and leaf area indices of forage sorghum were higher in the frequently watered plots than in plots where irrigation water was delivered less frequently. Averaged over the two seasons, maximum dry matter (DM) yields were 16.3, 11.8, and 10.5 tonnes ha–1 for frequent, intermediate, and infrequent irrigation regimes, respectively. Light, frequent irrigation resulted in a significantly higher water use efficiency (WUE) compared to the other two regimes, thus increasing the return from irrigation. These results suggest that in such semiarid environments, DM yields and WUE of forage sorghum could be increased by combining light irrigation with a short interval.
Article
Sorghum, which is tolerant to high temperatures and drought, can be an alternative crop to maize in marginal irrigated areas where the irrigation water supply is limited during crop development. The objective of this work was to study the productive response and the compensation phenomena between the sorghum yield components sown at four densities under variable water supply in the climatic conditions of the Middle Ebro Valley (Spain). The technique of the sprinkler line source was used. This technique produces a continuous and diminishing gradient of water applied. The results showed that the differential irrigation treatments significantly affected the productive parameters and the grain yield of sorghum. Water stress produced a decrease of the seasonal evapotranspiration, total dry matter, grain yield and harvest index. The relationships between the total dry matter, grain yield and harvest index versus the seasonal irrigation water applied was linear in the four sorghum plant densities. The different established plant densities did not significantly affect sorghum aerial dry matter, grain yield and harvest index. The results showed that important yield compensation processes occurred when the sorghum crop was grown under limited conditions of irrigation water and plant population. In fact, a greater tiller production, a greater number of grains per panicle and a higher weight of grains compensated the smaller number of plants per m2 of the lower plant densities. These results indicated that a high plant density did not present productive advantages in the sorghum grain yield.
Article
Cereal crop residues are important feed resources for ruminants in developing countries. However, they are poor in nutritive value because digestible energy, crude protein and mineral contents are all low. Techniques to improve the feeding value of crop residues by chemical or biological means have not been adopted widely by small farmers in developing countries. Genetic enhancement may provide an alternative and practical strategy for improvement of nutritive value in cereal straws and stovers. This paper reviews the opportunities for the improvement of nutritive value by plant breeding, with particular reference to dual-purpose cultivars of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) in South Asia.
Article
There is a need to standardize the NDF procedure. Procedures have varied because of the use of different amylases in attempts to remove starch interference. The original Bacillus subtilis enzyme Type IIIA (XIA) no longer is available and has been replaced by a less effective enzyme. For fiber work, a new enzyme has received AOAC approval and is rapidly displacing other amylases in analytical work. This enzyme is available from Sigma (Number A3306; Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO). The original publications for NDF and ADF (43, 53) and the Agricultural Handbook 379 (14) are obsolete and of historical interest only. Up to date procedures should be followed. Triethylene glycol has replaced 2-ethoxyethanol because of reported toxicity. Considerable development in regard to fiber methods has occurred over the past 5 yr because of a redefinition of dietary fiber for man and monogastric animals that includes lignin and all polysaccharides resistant to mammalian digestive enzymes. In addition to NDF, new improved methods for total dietary fiber and nonstarch polysaccharides including pectin and beta-glucans now are available. The latter are also of interest in rumen fermentation. Unlike starch, their fermentations are like that of cellulose but faster and yield no lactic acid. Physical and biological properties of carbohydrate fractions are more important than their intrinsic composition.
Article
Digestibility of total and cell wall monosaccharides was studied in sheep with ruminal and duodenal cannulae and fed three wheat straw-based diets: untreated, treated with SO2, treated with SO2 plus cellulase and a fourth diet, which was barley-based. In untreated straw, 90% of total monosaccharides are cell wall bound. Sulfur dioxide treatment solubilized mainly the matrix sugars, reducing their content from 22.1 to 9.76 g/100 g DM in straw. The combined treatment (SO2 plus cellulase) solubilized most of the cell wall sugars so that the most of the cell wall sugars so that the residual cell wall contained only 31% of the total sugars originally present. Treatments increased total monosaccharide digestibility from 63 to 90% and of cell wall monosaccharides from 58 to 84 and 88%. The proportion of digestible monosaccharides degraded in the rumen was increased up to 95% by the treatments. Total monosaccharide digestibility was similar in both treated straws, but degradation of the residual cell wall monosaccharides was somewhat lower in the combined treatment compared with the SO2-treated straw.
Field test of forage corn varieties
  • U Nir
  • O Goren
  • E Zuckerman
Nir, U., Goren, O., Zuckerman, E., 2003. Field test of forage corn varieties. In: Summary of field tests in forages during. Special publication of the Israeli Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Israel, pp. 68–72.