Forage Yield and Quality Performances of Sorghum Genotypes in Mediterranean Ecological Conditions

OpenAlex · English

Sorghum is one of the warm climate species known for its multi-purpose use and water use efficiency. The cultivation of this species, which is known to be more advantageous than maize in terms of water use, is increasing currently. Depending on this increase, it is necessary to develop more varieties that will serve different purposes. In the study, six different genotypes were grown with two standard genotypes in Aydın (Turkey) ecological conditions in 2016-2017 with 3 replications. Plant height (cm), fresh forage yield (t da-1), hay yield (t da-1), number of leaves, crude protein ratio (%), ADF (%), NDF (%) are the measured properties. With these data, crude protein yield (t da-1) and relative feed value characteristics were calculated. In the light of the results obtained from the experiment, it was observed that the fresh forage yield varied between 3.63-10.06 t da-1, the hay yield between 0.79-2.12 t da-1, crude protein yield between 0.075-0.198 t da-1, and the relative feed value between 91.61- 116.40. Among the genotypes, EA27 and EA36 stand out in terms of yield, while Beydarı has high values in terms of some quality characteristics. The results revealed that some genotypes are promising in sorghum breeding according to their intended use.