South-South transfer of superior dual purpose sorghum cultivars targeting mixed
crop livestock systems
Adie A.1, Blümmel M2*, Taye T3., Ravi D2., Belum VS Reddy4 and Duncan A1
1
ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and 2Patancheru, Hyderabad, India
3
Melkassa Agricultural Research Station, Nazareth, Ethiopia
4
ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India
Abstract
Twelve potential dual-purpose sorghum cultivars providing high grain and stover yield and
superior stover fodder quality were selected from the International Crop Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India and transferred to the Ethiopian Institute for
Agricultural Research (EIAR) sorghum improvement program. The cultivars were grown in
2008 and 2009 at three locations of the EIAR. Stover were analyzed for CP, NDF, ADF, ADL,
IVOMD and ME by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in India, where highly
significant (P < 0.0001) difference were found for all traits. The differences were livestock
nutritionally highly relevant and key traits such as IVOMD varied by 8 percent units (50.8 to
58.8%). Stover yield and fodder quality traits were moderately to highly heritable (h2 = 0.39 to
0.65).
Key words: Dual purpose sorghum, sorghum stover fodder quality
*Corresponding author: m.blummel@cgiar.org
Background
Stover are major feed resources in mixed crop livestock systems and there is a high demand for
crop cultivars that produce good grain yield and good crop residue quantity and fodder quality
that is dual purpose cultivars. In India for example the cost of sorghum stover in fodder trading
reaches about half that of the grain (Sharma et al. 2010). Higher quality stover achieve better
prices, with a difference in IVOMD of about 5 percent units (47 to 52%) associated with price
premiums of 25% and higher (Blümmel and Rao, 2006). ICRISAT responded to this demand by
incorporating stover traits into sorghum improvement. Twelve dual purpose sorghums were sent
to Ethiopia where demand for such sorghum is emerging.
Material and Methods
The cultivars were planted in Melkassa, Miesso and Showarabit in Ethiopia in 2008 and 2009
using standard agronomic practices of EIAR in 4 replications. Stover samples were dried, ground
though a 1 mm mesh and sent to the ILRI at ICRISAT in India and analyzed by Near Infrared
Spectroscopy (NIRS) for crude protein (CP, neutral (NDF) and acid (ADF) detergent fiber, acid
(ADL) detergent lignin, in vitro digestibility (IVOMD) and metabolizable energy (ME).
Results
Highly significant (P < 0.0001) cultivar differences were found for all traits (Table 1). Broadsense heritabilities (h2) ranged from 0.39 to 0.65 showing a moderately to strong genetic
determination of stover quality traits across the 2 years and the 3 locations. The differences were
livestock nutritionally highly significant and key nutritional stover traits such as IVOMD varied
by 8 percent units (50.8 to 58.8%).
Table 1: Stover CP, NDF, ADF, ADL, IVOMD, ME and stover yield (SY)
Cultivar
ICSC 93046
ICSV 91005
ICSR 196
ICSR 56
NT J2
E-36-1
ICSR 93034
A 2267-2
Seredo
ICSV 96143
WSV-387
ICSV 111
CP
%
7.6
7.5
7.9
6.9
6.6
7.0
6.6
6.3
6.1
6.6
6.5
5.9
NDF
%
56.0
56.7
59.1
57.8
59.8
59.4
61.7
61.4
61.5
61.5
62.7
62.5
LSD
h2
0.5
0.65
1.8
0.39
ADF
ADL
%
%
32.2
4.0
33.0
4.1
36.0
4.3
36.7
4.4
37.4
4.5
38.1
4.6
38.3
4.5
39.2
4.6
38.8
4.9
40.3
5.0
40.6
4.7
41.4
5.1
Statistical summary
1.7
0.2
0.53
0.40
IVOMD
%
58.8
58.3
55.2
54.8
54.8
53.7
53.6
52.6
52.6
51.8
51.7
50.8
ME
MJ/kg
8.87
8.75
8.19
8.23
8.19
8.00
8.00
7.82
7.86
7.64
7.64
7.56
SY
kg/ha
15 814
17 734
10 386
9 698
11 675
9 256
10 176
10 046
8 069
6 295
7 911
7 372
1.6
0.49
0.25
0.50
1 726
0.47
References
Blümmel M and Rao O. P. P. (2006). India. International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter 47:
97-101.
Sharma K., Pattanaik A. K., Anandan S. and Blümmel, M. (2010). Animal Nutrition and Feed
Technology, 10S: 1-10