8. Sorghum Flashcards
Sorghum is the ___ biggest Field crop in Australia after ____
4th, wheat barley and canola
Sorghum seed formation of a black layer is shown on the seed by
A black spot becoming larger as the seed develops.
Taller genotypes, often with bigger stems require more
Nitrogen
Leading producer of sorghum in Aus (which state?) and how many tons?
Queensland with 1 million tons.
Sorghum is often planted on what soil type?
Heavy clay soils. Good moisturise retention
Early Sorghum plantings, growers aim for temps atleast
12 degrees c absaloute minimum, at 8 am.
Soil temps between ___ and___ are generally ideal
16-18 degrees celcius
No till farming produces what quantities compared with conventional
No till produces 0.5 -1ton more per ha
Prussic acid poisoning
Release of hydrocyanic acid HCN, in sorghum type forages. Animals are able to de-toxify a certain amount of HCN
450kg cow can de-toxify around____mg per___
0.5mg, Hour.
What soil nutrition increases prussic acid potency?
High N couple with low P
WUE crop factor of sorghum is generally
15
Kg of crop produced per mm of rain
15kg/mm/ha
Simulation modelling is a more accurate prediction of water use in sorghum an example is
APSIM
APSIM is a model that takes into account
Seasonal rainfall distribution, temp, radiation, and soil condition.
Seed calculators are used for seeding rates of sorghum, what impacts these?
variety and irrigation design specific.
Skip row refers to?
A practice of saving water during the vegetative stage for the use during flowering.
Target plant population for dryland sorghum.
40,000-60,000 plants/ha
Target plant population for irrigated sorghum
100,000-250,000
Where can i find a plant density calculator
pacificseeds.com.au
In favourable seasons (yield potential 6 t/ha), 100 cm solid plant row spacings may provide up to ___ percent greater yield than double skip setups.
50%
Early sown sorghum results in
same or higher yield/ha, longer vegetative period, moving flowering window forward, less plant density. earlier harvested, but longer entire season. potential for double cropping with chickpea’s.
Sorghum is a non-host for? (2)
crown rot and a type of nematode.
Benefits of sorghum in a rotation (5)
- non-host for crown rot
- resistance to root lesion nematode
- splitting labour
- Increased cashflow
- management intensity is low
well timed dessication of sorghum can save up to
24mm of soil moisture in the profile
There are three main benefits of timely desiccation
- Modify harvest timing and aid in paddock harvest scheduling
- Maximize soil water potential for the next crop by decreasing late-season transpiration losses
- Lengthen the effective fallow time in order to maximise future cropping prospects
Lodging occurs when ……
plant stems weaken to the point they can no longer support the weight of the grain causing it to fall over.
sorghum is most susceptible to temperature stress over ___ and is best performing in temperatures around _____
flowering, 28-35 degrees over most of its life-cycle.
In a single day, sorghum will utilise between_____millimetres of water at its maximum rate of transpiration.
80 and 95 ml/day
The rule of thumb for daily waterlogging loss is
0.2 t/ha/day of waterlogging
Khapra Beetle summary (6)
- Exotic pest of stored grains, inside a grain silo.
- not yet in australia
- tiny beetle, produces thousands of eggs.
- hide under small spaces including paint,
- can live for up to 12 months without food
- feed on sorghum, and most type of grains.
grain _____has higher correlation to increased yield than grain ____
grain number has higher correlation to increased yield than grain size
Each sorghum grain is a caryopsis
a fruit containing a single seed with the fruit wall (pericarp) and seed coat (testa) fused.
developments required for improved Sorghum production in the face of climate change in Australia? (3)
- Improved heat tolerance over flowering
- improved emergent percentage in cooler weather/soil temps
- improve fundamental WUE
