TITLE:

Dryland Commercial Sorghum Variety Trial at AG-CARES, Lamesa, TX, 2000

AUTHOR:

Calvin Trostle & Jim Barber, Sorghum PROFIT, TAEX-Lubbock; John Farris, CEA-Dawson Co.; Danny Carmichael, TAES-Lubbock. c-trostle@tamu.edu, (806) 746-6101

METHODS AND PROCEDURES:

Soil Type:            Amarillo fine sandy loam

Planting:              June 14, 2000 on 40” rows

Previous Crop:   Sorghum

Seeding Rate:      ~32,000 seeds/acre with vacuum planter (about 2.0 to 2.3 lbs./acre)

Plot Set-up:         Two strips per variety, approximately 800’ long

Harvest Area:     Drought loss on all hybrids

Fertilizer:             None

Herbicide:           ?

Insecticide:          None

Rainfall:               See Lamesa area summary elsewhere in the AG-CARES report

Date Harvested: None

Number of Entries:22

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

In spite of excellent soil moisture at planting no significant grain yield was achieved in 2000 due to the severe drought. All hybrids are all medium-early to medium in maturity and were chosen to minimize duplication of genetic lines sold under different commercial names. For best indications of sorghum yields varieties should be tested over several years at more than one location.

General observations in 2000 for the AGCARES region suggest that even a single rain in late July or August would have produced grain yield provided that recommended seeding rates of 30,000-35,000 seeds/acre were followed. Too often, dryland sorghum seeding rates are too high, and higher plant population sorghum crops cannot handle drought stress as well and will underyield lower plant population sorghum crops, often substantially.

As plant populations were roughly similar a measure of potential drought tolerance may be achieved by noting the degree of heading noted in the table below.

For a three-year grain yield history of most of these sorghum hybrids at AGCARES, see the 1999 Dawson County/AGCARES report.

Table 1. 2000 AG-CARES Commercial Sorghum Variety Trial.

Hybrid	Company	Maturity	Grain color	Plant color	Relative Heading*
Seneca	Asgrow	Med Early	Bronze	Purple	2.0
611Y	Cargill	Med Early	Yellow	Tan	1.5
627	Cargill	Medium	Bronze	Purple	2.0
697	Cargill	Medium	Bronze	Purple	2.0
737	Cargill	Med Long	Red	Purple	1.5
DK40Y	Dekalb	Medium	Yellow	Purple	2.5
DK41Y	Dekalb	Med Long	Yellow	Purple	2.5
DK44	Dekalb	Medium	Bronze	Purple	2.0
F-501E	Frontier	Medium	Red	Red	2.5
1506	Mycogen	Medium	Bonze	Purple	1.5
Y363	NC+	Med Early	Yellow	Purple	2.0
6C21	NC+	Med Early	Crème	Purple	2.5
6C69	NC+	Med Early	Crème	Purple	2.0
KS 524	Novartis	Medium	Bronze	Purple	2.5
KS 585	Novartis	Medium	Bronze	Purple	2.0
K59-Y2	Novartis	Medium	Crème	Purple	1.5
85G85	Pioneer	Medium	Bronze	Red	2.0
84G62	Pioneer	Med Long	Bronze	Red	2.0
8505	Pioneer	Medium	Red	Red	2.5
333	Production Plus	Med Long	Crème	Purple	2.5
Jowar-1	Richardson	Medium	White	Tan	1.5
RS250E	Richardson	Med Early	Red	Purple	2.0
9200Y	Richardson	Medium	Yellow	Purple	2.5

*Heading ratings: 1=0% (not headed), 2=1-25%, 3=26-50%, 4=51-75%, and 5=>75%