Sorghum Archives - Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Sorghum producers see less damage by sugarcane aphids

7Aug

By: Adam Russell

Grain sorghum producers are reporting sugarcane aphids in the High Plains, but the pest has made little impact on the Texas crop during 2020, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

But forage sorghum, an increasingly popular silage option, has experienced more significant losses, as producers and Texas A&M AgriLife scientists and specialists search for effective and efficient treatment methods. Those fields bound for forage production were not hard hit so far this year.

Pat Porter, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension entomologist, Lubbock, said sugarcane aphids have not been “as big a deal as they were years ago” due to creation of resistant hybrid sorghum varieties and vigilant monitoring and spray applications keeping their numbers in check as they migrate.

Sugarcane aphid nymphs and an adult on a grain sorghum leaf. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Pat Porter)

Sugarcane aphids devastated sorghum fields after their 2013 emergence in fields around Beaumont. They made their way to the Texas Plains by 2015, and the results were catastrophic for sorghum producers.

Producers in the Rio Grande Valley alone lost $31 million to the pest in 2015, according to an AgriLife Extension study that also showed producers who utilized recommended scouting and spraying regimens once the pest neared thresholds avoided $35 million in potential losses.

Since then, sugarcane aphids effect on Texas’ sorghum production has waned, and Porter said this season has shown numbers continue to decline.

“There’s so many fewer aphids coming up from South Texas,” he said. “The resistant hybrids are the No. 1 factor, and then you have producers in South and Central Texas who are on top of their numbers and really decreasing the migratory populations.”

Porter said some producers along the Gulf Coast sprayed their fields, but he suspects sugarcane aphids may be manageable in the High Plains without applications if beneficial insect populations are well-established.

Forage sorghum

Forage sorghum, however, continues to be impacted by sugarcane aphids because there are very few aphid-tolerant forage sorghum hybrids. It is also planted more densely and grows taller than grain fields. Those factors make spray applications less effective and forage fields more susceptible to significant infestations.

Jourdan Bell, Ph. D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo, said forage sorghum has become an increasingly important silage option for beef cattle and dairy producers in the region. It’s a drought-tolerant alternative to corn silage and can withstand intermittent periods of in-season drought stress without losing quality as quickly as corn.

Bell said Texas A&M AgriLife Research efforts are showing that sugarcane aphid effects on forage yields and quality can be mitigated with actions that reduce their impact on grain fields – timely identification and management.

Untreated test plots experienced 33%-44% yield losses and reduction in quality as a forage, she said. Data showed relative feed quality was reduced by as much as 50% under heavy sugarcane aphid infestations.

“With the arrival of sugarcane aphids on the Texas High Plains, we have seen many forage sorghum fields lost to sugarcane aphid feeding as well as yield and quality reductions,” she said. “It is important that producers and consultants are scouting their forage sorghum fields and applying timely insecticide application to maintain yield and quality.”

Texas A&M AgriLife helping set gold standard greenhouse gas emissions measurements for Department of Energy

22Jun

By: Kay Ledbetter

Greenhouse gas emissions from sorghum fields in the Texas High Plains will be the focus of a Texas A&M AgriLife Research study funded by a U.S. Department of Energy grant through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, ARPA-E.

This $3.1 million collaborative project, led by Oklahoma State University, is funded through ARPA-E’s Systems for Monitoring and Analytics for Renewable Transportation Fuels from Agricultural Resources and Management, or SMARTFARM, program.

man in field with technology to capture nitrous oxide

Walker Crane, a member of Nithya Rajan’s team, measures nitrous oxide measurements from a young sorghum field. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

About one-third of the grant will be utilized in Texas by Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., crop physiology and agroecology associate professor, who is the lead investigator for AgriLife Research on this project. Rajan will be joined by Ronnie Schnell, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cropping systems specialist for sorghum. Both are in Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences in College Station.

“We are excited about this multi-state SMARTFARM project,” said David Baltensperger, Ph.D., head of the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. “This project strengthens our ties with Texas sorghum producers and supports the goal of sorghum production in an environmentally friendly manner.”

Goals of measuring greenhouse gas emissions

The SMARTFARM program’s objective is to bridge the data gap in the biofuel supply chain by funding technologies that can quantify feedstock-related emissions at the field level and enable new market incentives for efficiency.

Rajan said the ARPA-E project will utilize current technology and sensor networks to continuously quantify field-level emissions for major greenhouse gases. This is expected to provide a “gold standard” assessment of emissions from bioenergy feedstocks in the Southern Great Plains.

“With any agriculture production field, greenhouse gas emission is inevitable — typically carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — and that increases with the application of fertilizer, manure and other management practices,” she said. “Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas that can stay in the atmosphere for several decades and can cause environmental issues.”
Nitrous oxide emissions graph
Rajan’s current research shows that there is a daily pattern associated with nitrous oxide emissions in agricultural fields. Emissions usually happen after fertilizer application and rainfall, but such frequent measurements are rarely made by scientists in production conditions due to the cost of equipment needed for continuous monitoring.

Carbon source or sink

Agricultural fields also sequester carbon. Tracking both carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions simultaneously is necessary to understand if the field is a carbon source or a sink, as greenhouse gas emissions are usually expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents.

Schnell said sorghum production systems in the Southern Great Plains have an opportunity to contribute sustainable energy production in the U.S. Production environments, water use and common management practices have the potential for lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Rajan said the team is concentrating on grain sorghum initially, because Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma are three of the nation’s main sorghum-producing states. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, nationwide, about 5.07 million acres were planted to grain sorghum.

Grain sorghum acreage is beginning to replace some corn acreage in the Texas Panhandle because of its water efficiency, she said. The Texas portion of the project is designed to take measurements of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, at an 85-acre commercial production field, continuously using the state-of-the-art instrumentation and methodologies. Schnell will assist with spatial measurements of soil water, nutrient, and crop growth at the site.

“This is the first time anyone is trying to do it at this scale,” Rajan said. “We are using a farmer’s field in the Panhandle area. We will be setting up a lot of equipment to make these measurements.”

Nithya Rajan, Ph.D., in a sorgum field. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

She said the equipment will allow them to take greenhouse gas measurements continuously from the sorghum field. Additionally, soil temperature and moisture sensors will be installed on each sub-acre of the 85-acre field. Soil and plant samples will also be collected from each acre.

The end goal is to build a ‘gold standard’ data set. The data set then will be available for all researchers studying the life cycle analysis and modeling of greenhouse gas emissions.

The project will begin in October 2020 and continue for three years. While the data gathering will be automated and managed through the internet, Rajan said project participants will make frequent visits to the site for installation, equipment maintenance, and plant and soil sample collection. This is only one of Rajan’s projects with sorghum.

Gopal Kakani, Ph.D., from Oklahoma State University is the lead principal investigator of this three-state project. Other team members are: Oklahoma State University researchers Jason Warren, Saleh Taghvaeian, Paul Weckler and Ning Wang, all Ph.D.s; and Kansas State University researchers Peter Tomlinson, Eduardo Alvarez Santos and Lucas Haag, all Ph.D.s.

Texas A&M-bred sorghum now on the cereal aisle

24Sep

By: Kay Ledbetter

Texas A&M AgriLife sorghum research may be known for its development of sorghum for animal feed and energy sectors, but cereal eaters across the nation are learning about its contributions to healthier human foods.

Dr. Bill Rooney in field with box of GrainBerry cereal

Bill Rooney, Ph.D., looks at the back of a box of cereal that features the Onyx sorghum variety he bred as a part of Texas A&M AgriLife’s efforts to meet the needs of the food industry. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“We were targeting the health-food market when we developed the black grain sorghum hybrid Onyx in 2012,” said Bill Rooney, Ph.D., AgriLife Research sorghum breeder and Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement in the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, College Station.

The Onyx hybrid was licensed to Silver Pallet Inc., which spent several years in seed increase and commercial production on the Texas High Plains before featuring the product in their Grain Berry cereals.

“Texas A&M AgriLife is working to improve the quantity and quality of food production to benefit human health and ultimately lower health care costs,” said Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D., director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research and vice chancellor and dean for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Dr. Rooney’s research is a great example of how we can enhance the nutritional quality of the food supply to help manage chronic diseases by targeting quality end-points with human nutrition in mind.”

Increased public interest in antioxidants

The cereal boxes highlight the Onyx connection, marketing it as an “all-natural new sorghum grain developed by Texas A&M University, based on ancient black and hi-tannin sorghum varieties that, together in one plant, contain a more powerful combination of antioxidants that combat a whole spectrum of free radical threats to our bodies.”

Texas A&M AgriLife’s sorghum breeding work is featured on the back of the cereal box, outlining the nutritional qualities of Onyx sorghum. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Rooney is known for his conceptualization and development of bioenergy sorghum hybrids – sorghum is considered to be the leading feedstocks for the bioenergy industry.

But as the general public becomes more health conscious, growing attention is being directed at his new and novel sorghum types for specific and unique markets.

Based on research conducted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Cereal Quality Lab, Rooney knew sorghums with dark colors and tannins have higher concentrations of antioxidants. As such, in developing the Onyx sorghum hybrid, he selected for those types to meet the growing public interest in finding foods with high antioxidant capacity.

Onyx2

“This was the first material we licensed with that characteristic,” he said. “We licensed a new hybrid to Silver Pallet last year, Onyx2, and increased seed production this year. It will be grown commercially next year.”

Onyx2 has the same components but provides better yields for production purposes, Rooney said. He said an issue with the original Onyx was its yield potential was lower than commercial grain sorghum hybrids.

“We were able to increase the yields about 25% from the first hybrid to the second,” he said.

Human nutrition market

Rooney said his program will continue to reach the human nutrition market with new hybrids.

“We are working with some specialty grain types, looking at new combinations of characteristics such as grain color, tannin concentration and endosperm characteristics,” he said.

Muffins made with Texas A&M AgriLife-bred Onyx sorghum cereal were served at the recent AgriLife Extension sorghum field day. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The higher tannins are reaching the same market as the Onyx, Rooney said, because they have increased antioxidant values. Specific grain colors are for the specialty food market and are valued for the inclusion of specific compounds associated with natural preservatives.

“The grain source of these natural preservatives, however, is unique because most of the time these natural preservatives are sourced from fruits and vegetables that require processing to extract the compounds,” he said. “The sorghum requires less processing to access and stabilize the useful attributes.”

The other area of research, waxy endosperm sorghums, has the most marketing potential and interest for producers, Rooney said.

“Inclusion of these hybrid characteristics can affect industrial, food and livestock feed applications, because the starch is modified and is easier to process or digest,” he said. “Ethanol can be made faster; livestock can digest the grain faster; and it is easier for human food processors to use.”

Texas A&M researchers to develop climate-smart sorghum

9Aug

By: Kay Ledbetter
Contacts: Dr. Nithya Rajan, nrajan@tamu.edu
Dr. Bill Rooney, wlr@tamu.edu
Dr. Ronnie Schnell, ronshcnell@tamu.edu

Improved yield, greenhouse gas mitigation, water quality are ultimate goals

Texas A&M researchers believe the development of climate-smart crops is the key to improving nitrogen-use efficiency and reducing fertilizer nitrogen loss in agricultural fields.

The crops would have the ability to suppress soil nitrification and have reduced nitrogen emissions, said Dr. Nithya Rajan, Texas A&M AgriLife Research crop physiologist and principal investigator in College Station.

Rajan initiated a project study, “Innovative Sorghum-Based Production Systems with Biological Nitrification Inhibition Property to Enhance Sustainability of Agroecosystems,” funded by a $500,000 grant through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – Foundational and Applied Science Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – National Institute for Food and Agriculture, USDA-NIFA.

She said nitrification and subsequent denitrification activities promote the loss of nitrogen from agricultural fields and largely is the underlying reason for low nitrogen-use efficiency in most field crops, including sorghum.

Dr. Nithya Rajan, left, with Dr. Guntur Subbarao, middle, and Dr. Santosh Deshpande, far right, at the BNI field test site at ICRISAT in Hyderabad, India. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“Some plants can suppress nitrification by releasing inhibitors from their roots, a property known as biological nitrification inhibition (BNI),” Rajan said. “This will help with retention of nitrogen for longer periods of time to facilitate its uptake by crops and reduce the loss of nitrogen as nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance.”

Initial work supported by another USDA-NIFA exploratory grant involved screening for BNI properties of a range of diverse sorghum genotypes from the program of AgriLife Research sorghum breeder Dr. William Rooney.

This exploratory work was carried out in collaboration with Dr. Guntur Subbarao, principal scientist from the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, JIRCAS, in Tsukuba, Japan. Subbarao is a pioneer and world-renowned BNI expert.

“We believe that BNI-enabled crops and production systems are part of innovative solutions for a genetic-mitigation strategy to address problems associated with nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture,” Subbarao said.

Subbarao leads a multi-institutional research group on BNI research in collaboration with several CGIAR institutes including the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, in Hyderabad, India.

trays with plants growing in them beside a picture of seedlings with long roots

Sorghum seedlings are grown in special boxes for BNI characterization. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“By collaborating with international institutions such as JIRCAS and ICRISAT that are at the forefront of developing this technology, we can bring innovative solutions to benefit U.S. agriculture,” Rajan said.

The current NIFA project is a collaborative effort by AgriLife Research, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and JIRCAS.

Tackling the project with Rajan are the following Texas A&M researchers in College Station and their specialties: Drs. Sakiko Okumoto, plant physiologist; Ronnie Schnell, agronomist; Jacqueline Aitkenhead-Peterson, urban nutrient and water runoff; Kung-Hui Chu, environmental microbiology; John Jifon, plant physiologist; Muthu Bagavathiannan, weed scientist; as well as Rooney and Subbarao.

They will spend the next two years quantifying and characterizing the BNI compound secretion in sorghum, and evaluating the release of BNI compounds and nitrification inhibition in soils.

“The possibility of BNI in sorghum is exciting and has the potential to fundamentally change the way nitrogen is managed in the future for sorghum as well as other crops,” Schnell said. “Improving nitrogen-use efficiency in grain crops will have substantial economic and environmental benefits for Texas and its farmers. However, there is a lot of research that needs to be done first to develop this technology.”

Beyond identifying elite sorghum cultivars with BNI properties, extensive field testing will be needed to develop cropping systems around this new technology, he said.

“The long-term goal of this program is to develop elite sorghum cultivars with enhanced BNI properties,” Rooney said. “Preliminary evidence indicates that variation exists among sorghum genotypes and it will be possible to improve this trait to have an impact in the future.”

2019 Sorghum acres expected to decrease

9May

By: Adam Russell
Contact: Calvin Trostle, c-trostle@tamu.edu

Sorghum acres are expected to decrease amid excellent growing conditions because of an ongoing trade dispute, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Lubbock, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture prospective plantings report estimated 1.35 million grain sorghum acres to be planted in Texas in 2019. Texas sorghum producers planted 1.55 million acres in 2018 following a USDA projection of 1.6 million acres for the state.

Concerns regarding the ongoing trade dispute with China could hold down sorghum production despite this year’s excellent growing conditions. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Trostle said the 13 percent projected decrease is related to the ongoing trade dispute with China. Texas has typically produced around 25 percent of U.S. sorghum exported to China, about $209 million annually.

“Many Texas producers are concerned that the trade dispute could cut up to $1 per bushel off of domestic prices,” he said. “We send so much sorghum to China, the sooner the dispute is resolved the better.”

Trostle said the fact that nearly all the state, including parts of the High Plains that were experiencing drought conditions, have a good, deep soil moisture profile bodes well for growers. He doesn’t want to jinx the 2019 growing season, but said conditions look excellent so far.

Some producers are still hesitant to plant sorghum because of disastrous sugarcane aphid infestations in 2014 and 2015, Trostle said. But he said plant hybrids introduced to combat the pest, earlier planting dates, proper crop monitoring, treatments and beneficial insects have mitigated much of the pest’s impact since.

“Their impact has been sporadic the last few years,” he said. “Around 25 percent of Texas sorghum acres are planted with sugarcane aphid-tolerant varieties and growers are more vigilant in their monitoring. That has reduced their impact to the point some producers believe we have them whipped. But producers still need to be wary because Mother Nature can humble you.”

Trostle said sorghum plants in South Texas have reached at least the six-to-seven leaf stage with some fields flowering. Sugarcane aphids were noted in those fields with a few adults and newborns at low levels.

Sugarcane aphids have had a much lower impact this year, partially due to producers planting aphid tolerant sorghum varieties. (Texas A&M AgriLife Photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“That’s a dramatic change,” he said. “Probably over half the acres in South Texas were recommended for spraying at this point in 2014.”

Along the Coastal Bend, Trostle said sugarcane aphids have been scouted in Johnsongrass but no reports of the pest in sorghum fields. Most sorghum in Central Texas has emerged, and High Plains sorghum plantings were expected to begin in earnest soon.

“This is one of those one in eight years or one in 10 years that makes farmers eager to get their summer crop in the ground,” he said.

AgriLife Research and Forage Genetics International sign multi-year agreement

12Jul

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Bill Rooney, 979-845-2151, wlr@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – A greater interest in forage sorghums from the beef and dairy industries has led to a multi-year agreement between Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Forage Genetics International LLC, or FGI, a subsidiary of Arden Hills, Minnesota-based Land O’Lakes Inc.

“FGI is excited to collaborate with Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Dr. Rooney,” said Shawn Barnett, FGI president in Arden Hills, Minnesota. “For more than 25 years, FGI has led the forage industry with innovative genetic discoveries, variety developments and cutting-edge alfalfa product introductions.

Dr. Bill Rooney, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research sorghum breeder in College Station, manages an active breeding program with evaluation sites throughout Texas and the U.S. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“This collaboration opportunity further expands our efforts to deliver best-in-class forage solutions to our customers and relentlessly pursue advancement in the forage industry,” Barnett said.

Dr. Bill McCutchen, executive associate director of AgriLife Research in College Station, said, “We are appreciative of FGI’s interest in our sorghum breeding program and willingness to invest in future outcomes. Within the agreement, FGI will have an option to license intellectual property developed in the program.

“Not only does this collaboration strengthen our program and FGI’s potential product development, but it will help identify forage sorghum traits that will benefit producers and all of the industry in years to come,” McCutchen said.

Rooney, an AgriLife Research sorghum breeder in the Texas A&M University department of soil and crop sciences, manages an active breeding program with evaluation sites throughout Texas and the U.S. His primary research activities are in the development of grain, forage and bioenergy sorghum parental lines for the production of commercial hybrids.

As commercial interest in bioenergy crops has waned, Rooney, who is the Borlaug-Monsanto Chair for Plant Breeding and International Crop Improvement, has transitioned from bioenergy to forage breeding.

“We’ve been working on forage sorghums for 20-plus years,” he said. “The challenges in the forage industry are to improve quality while maintaining agronomic productivity.”

Given the right hybrid combinations, silage sorghum has yields and quality comparable to corn silage. Further, that productivity is accomplished using less water, Rooney said.

He said the funding from FGI will help expand his forage breeding program, which has a goal of developing sorghum seed and pollinator parents with desirable forage quality and yield.

field with grain sorghum and forage sorghum

A Texas A&M AgriLife Research forage sorghum variety trial. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“Our program has concentrated on seed and pollinator parents with desirable characteristics such as good leaf to stem ratios, producing forage plants of different types and heights,” Rooney said.

Matt Sowder, FGI director of corn silage/forage sorghum in Arden Hills, Minnesota, said, “Texas A&M AgriLife Research represents world class research and aligns with what we want to deliver to our customers. Through this collaboration, FGI can continue our intense focus on technology and hybrid development. Our joint efforts will provide FGI customers with cutting-edge solutions to productivity in their forage operations.”

Rooney said he is continually looking to improve sorghum for whatever challenges may arise, such as sugarcane aphids, foliar diseases and other stress tolerances to improve overall productivity and quality.

He said initially all the breeding process under the new agreement will be conducted at the College Station area facilities.

Forage sorghum management, hybrids determine silage value

28Oct

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Jourdan Bell, 806-677-5600, Jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu

AMARILLO – Unique data for forage sorghums, including varying feed values and management needs of different hybrids, is coming out of a Texas A&M AgriLife trial being conducted near Bushland.

Forage sorghum trials being conducted by Texas A&M AgriLife are looking at management, varietal selection and sugarcane aphid damage. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“On the Texas High Plains, forage sorghums are a very good fit with the livestock industry, especially as dairy and beef cattle forage needs increase at the same time as we become water-limited across the Ogallala Aquifer region,” said Dr. Jourdan Bell, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist in Amarillo.

Forage sorghums are a drought-tolerant, water-efficient alternative to corn, Bell said.

“While corn is often the silage of choice because of its feed value, forage sorghums have a feed value 80 to 90 percent of corn, if managed properly,” she said.

Corn silage is the primary choice of livestock operations, although sorghum silage offers a good alternative. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“However, producers are recognizing that we are really going to have to manage our forage sorghums for optimum quality and production, even more so now with the additional concerns about the sugarcane aphid.”

Bell said the data from the forage sorghum trials on a cooperative farmer’s land near Bushland will be unique because she is working with Dr. Ed Bynum, AgriLife Extension entomologist, and Dr. Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist, to evaluate the effect of the sugarcane aphid pressure on forage sorghum production and quality.

“There is such a vast difference in production and quality between sorghum types and hybrids, so it’s really important that we evaluate different forage sorghums specifically for silage to help producers optimize not only their production with regards to tonnage but also the quality at harvest.”

That’s where the value of the forage sorghum trial, currently in its third year, comes in, Bell said. Her work is a continuation of long-term research conducted at Bushland for over 15 years.

The Bushland forage sorghum trial includes over 100 different sorghum hybrids, including forage and grain sorghum types.

Measurements are being taken for yield and quality at harvest, she said. While finished silage is ultimately a result of the product used, it is important the end users recognize that the quality of the silage also can be affected by their management.

Bell, who also has a Texas A&M AgriLife Research appointment, is conducting a secondary study, funded by the Texas Grain Sorghum Board, to evaluate ensiling duration with a select forage sorghum. She will be aided in the research by a West Texas A&M University graduate student.

Sorghum berries, cracked and uncracked, during the ensiling process will be a part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research study. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“We are looking at forage that has been ensiled for 30, 60 and 120 days to optimize the feed value — both digestibility and carbohydrate availability — for a forage sorghum that has been processed with both a cracked and uncracked berry.”

Another area of concern for the end user is the grain processing, she said. Often times the sorghum berry is not cracked when it is ensiled, which can reduce the feed value and the carbohydrate availability.

“So we are looking at forages where the berry has been cracked as well as where it has been unprocessed, so we can see how ensiling duration might affect the feed value,” Bell said. “Ultimately, the silage is only going to be as good as the forage that was used and how that was managed.”

One added challenge this year has been sugarcane aphids, she said.

Dr. Jourdan Bell with Texas A&M AgriLife looks at sugarcane aphid damage on a forage sorghum. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“We have sprayed sugarcane aphids twice throughout the growing season, however, there is concern that there are potential reductions in both yield and quality. So we have a very timely opportunity to evaluate its effect on production and quality of the forage.”

Bell said several different forage sorghum hybrids have been infested at different levels with sugarcane aphids, and will be ensiled to determine the effect of sugarcane aphid level of infestation on that end-use product.

“That’s something that is very unique,” she said. “At this time, there is nobody else who will have that data.”

Bell reminded producers that just because forage sorghums are drought tolerant, that does not necessarily mean they can avoid irrigation. Forage sorghums managed for optimum production can use three-tenths to four-tenths of an inch of water per day at periods of peak water demand on the Texas High Plains.

“So it is up to the producer to determine what their yield goal is, what maturity class they need to plant and how they are going to manage that crop to optimize production,” she said. “Of course, with that, they need to know what their end user wants – just roughage or something with a greater feed value.”

Bell said harvest continues on the forage sorghum trial, with results expected in a month or so. The optimum harvest for forage sorghums is at soft dough, but this trial includes multiple maturity classes and forage types. They range from early maturing hybrids to the photoperiod-sensitive hybrids that do not initiate heading until the day length is less than 12.5 hours, or around mid-October on the Texas High Plains.

“This has really extended the harvest times and slightly delayed the complete data collection,” she said.

The complete set of data will be posted online at http://amarillo.tamu.edu under the Agronomy tab in the next couple months.