Sudan First Forage Sorghum Hybrid Prof. Maarouf I. Mohammed

maaroufibrahim@gmail.com Tel: 249918039324

Development of the first local forage sorghum hybrid in the Sudan

Sudan owns the second largest animal wealth in Africa. The sharp increase in demand for animal products has led to great expansion in the area allocated to fodder crops. Research efforts aiming at developing improved forage types were very few. A forage improvement program was therefore initiated in 2000 at Shambat Research Station. Genetic variability among local stocks has been exploited and improved forage types from Abu Sab'in, Sudan Grass and Ankolib populations were developed. Some of these materials were officially released for commercial production (Mohammed et al., 2008; Mohammed, 2009).

One of the ambitious program objectives was to investigate the possibility of locally developed forage sorghum hybrids. Such endeavor has not been attempted, in spite of the immense variability among Sudanese sorghums. Exploitation of heterosis in developing improved hybrid varieties is a well documented method. High yielding forage sorghum hybrids have been developed in many parts of the world.

Early history of hybrid sorghum development in the USA was reviewed by Maunder (1983). Although the research workers at Texas Experiment Station became aware of hybrid vigor in sorghum as early as 1920, the private seed industry of hybrid sorghum has to await the advent of cytoplasmic male sterility in 1954. Nevertheless, the release of the first forage sorghum hybrids did not occur until 1959. These were the unwanted crosses of grain hybrid program which later led to the forage hybrid 'Sudax'.

In the Sudan, research efforts before 2001, were mainly confined to testing and releasing of exotic hybrids. The seed of all hybrids currently in use are imported. Hitherto, four forage sorghum hybrids were tested and released by the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), namely: Pioneer 988, from Pioneer International Co. (Ishag, 1989), Speedfeed and Jumbo from Pacific seed Co. (Khair et al., 1995), Pannar 888 from Pannar Seed Co. (Nour et al., 1998) and Safed Moti from Proagro seed Co. (ElAhmadi et al., 2003). Although these hybrids proved to be good yielders, yet the farmer’s preference is in favor of the traditional cultivar Abu Sab’in which was, until the early 1980s, has no competitor as forage sorghum in the Sudan. Most of the introduced hybrids were mainly designed to suit the grazing or silage-making systems, whereas, in the Sudan, the cut-and carry (green chopping) is the prevailing system. The low adoption of

introduced hybrids might also be attributed to the unavailability and high cost of their seeds. Therefore, the locally developed hybrids will greatly enhance the adoption process by making available cheap seed of better adapted hybrids.

In pursuing this goal, locally developed hybrids using exotic females has been attempted (Mohammed, 2004). The results obtained demonstrate clearly the possibility of developing local hybrids excelling the introduced ones and the traditional cultivar Abu Sab’in in forage yield. However, the resulting hybrids were not early in flowering, a character which is highly valued under the local production system. The exotic females were found responsible for transmitting lateness and other undesirable traits to their progenies. Based on these and other findings, the choice for developing local x local hybrids was thought crucial in resolving problems pertaining to the poor adoption of forage sorghum hybrid in Sudan. This in turn necessitated the need for transferring CMS factors to the local stocks, a task that has been achieved in 2003 by male

sterilizing 12 lines selected from the traditional cultivar ‘Abu Sabin’ in A3 cytoplasm (Mohammed, 2004). The Abu Sab'in females were crossed to carefully selected local males chosen from Sudan Grass (Garawi) and Ankolib (local sweet sorghum) populations plus two exotic males. 87 experimental hybrids were produced and screened in a replicated nursery in 2005. Thirty eight hybrids were identified and subjected to preliminary yield testing during 2006, see link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWyBowHndSQ&feature=related Twelve hybrids were chosen for advanced evaluation across four environments. They were tested against two commercial hybrids: Pannar 888 and Safed Moti; and two local checks: 'Kambal' (the recommended cultivar) and Abu Sabin. The design used in most trials was Alpha Lattice. Forage yield of the first and the second cut, days to flowering, plant height, regrowth ability and some quality traits were investigated. see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW87Fb-g1kk The contrast analysis across environments indicated the superiority of the local hybrids in forage yield over the existing maxima. Some of the top yielding local hybrids were also significantly earlier than the introduced ones and the local checks. Of these, the local hybrid SHM0022 was the best in many attributes, outyielding the introduced (commercial) hybrids and the local checks with yield advantage ranging from 37% to 73% for the first cut and at least 149% for the second cut (see Table 1). It was also significantly earlier than the introduced hybrids and the local checks. Earliness is a highly valued character under the local green chopping system that requires fast growing, highly productive cultivars to minimize costs of production (Mohammed et al, 2009). Thus, the hybrid SHM0022 could largely meet the farmer’s preference in producing high quantities of forage in a relatively short period of time. Moreover, SHM0022 showed the best protein content amounting to 12.3 %. (see Table 2) and regrowth ability.

The release of SHM0022 has been approved by the Variety Release Committee on the 1st of March 2010 under the name ‘Hagin Garawi 1’ for irrigated green chopping system. It was expected to have a major impact on the hybrid seed industry of forage sorghum in the country as it allows, for the first time, production of cheap seed of better adapted hybrids.

Table 1. Agronomic performance of the newly developed forage sorghum Hybrid ‘Hagin Garawi 1’

Cultivar Fresh Yield (Ton/ha)

Dry Yield (Ton/ha)

Second Cut (Ton/ha)

Days to flowering

Plant height (cm)

Yield advantage (%)

Hagin Garawi 1 (Released Hybrid)

54.0 12.02 36.80 57 220 -

Pannar888 (Hybrid check)

35.3 6.69 14.77 62 183 53.0 %

Safed Moti (Hybrid check)

39.1 7.81 5.93 65 200 38.1 %

Kambal (open pollinated check)

39.4 8.56 7.13 61 214 37.1 %

Abu Sabin (open pollinated check)

31.2 7.27 5.06 62 186 73.1 %

Table 2. Quality performance of the newly developed forage sorghum Hybrid ‘Hagin Garawi 1’

Cultivar

Crude Protein ADF NDF

P e r c e n t a g e s

Hagin Garawi 1 (Released Hybrid) 12.3 32.6 61.8

Pannar888 (exotic hybrid) 11.3 30.8 57.0

Safed Moti (exotic hybrid) 8.27 32.4 63.0

Kambal (check) 8.05 32.9 57.8

Abu Sab'in (check) 8.22 36.5 56.1

References

ElAhmadi, A.B.; Khair, M.A.M and Mohammed, Maarouf I. (2003). Comparative performance of “Safed Moti”, a grain sorghum x Sudan grass hybrid from India. A paper submitted to the Variety Release Committee. ARC. W. Medani. Sudan

Ishag, H. M. (1989). Pioneer 988- a forage sorghum for irrigated Gezira. A report submitted to the Variety Release Committee. ARC. W. Medani. Sudan

Khair, M.A.M; Babiker, E.A.; Ibrahim, B.A. and Mohammed, B. A. (1995). Speedfeed and Jumbo, new sorghum/Sudan grass hybrids for irrigated areas in the Central Sudan. A paper submitted to the Variety Release Committee. ARC. W. Medani. Sudan.

Maunder, B. A. (1983). Development and perspectives of the hybrid seed industry in the Americas. In: G. Ejeta Ed., ‘Hybrid Sorghum Seed for Sudan’. Proceedings. Purdue University. Pp. 39-48.

Mohammed, Maarouf I. (2004). Development of male sterile forage sorghum genetic stocks in A3 cytoplasm. Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research 4: 89-92

Mohammed, Maarouf I., Gamal, E. Khalifa, Ghada H. Abdulrahman and Mohammed I. Elmahi. (2008). Improvement of the traditional forage sorghum cultivar 'Abu Sab'in'. Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research 11: 25-33

Mohammed, Maarouf I. (2009). Proposal for the release of improved Sudan Grass types for Khartoum State. A paper presented for the Variety Release Committee. Khartoum. Sudan

Nour, A. M.; Khair, M. A. M. and Mohammed, B.A. (1998). Performance of forage sorghum hybrids under Sudan conditions. A paper submitted to the Variety Release Committee. ARC. W. Medani. Sudan.