This document provides an overview of sorghum cultivation practices. It discusses the taxonomy, botany, economic importance, distribution, varieties, growth stages, nutrient management, irrigation, weed management, and harvesting of sorghum. Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and is used for food, fodder, and production of alcoholic beverages. It is tolerant of drought and heat and is well suited to dry, hot climates. Proper soil preparation, fertilizer application, irrigation, and weed control are required to maximize sorghum yields.

1. Sorghum
Cultivation Practices

2. Overview
• Taxonomic Classification
• Crop Botany
• Economic Importance
• Distribution
• Sorghum Injury and Poisoning
• Soil & Climatic Requirements
• Varieties & Hybrids
• Seed Rate & Seed Treatment
• Sowing & Spacing
• Growth Stages
• Nutrient Management
• Irrigation Management
• Weed Management
• Cropping Systems
• Insect Management
• Yield Attributes
• Harvesting
• Yield & Storage
• Post Harvest Technology

3. Taxonomical Classification
• Kingdom PLANTAE - Plants
• Division MAGNOLIOPHYTA – Flowering plants
• Class LILIOPSIDA – Monocotyledons
• Order CYPERALES
• Family POACEAE – Grass family
• Genus Sorghum
• Species Sorghum bicolor (L)
• Vernacular Name: Jonnalu

4. Crop Botany
• Root : Fibrous root system
• Stem : Erect, 50-180cm in height, internodes are short at the base and longer above,
color of stem may be green or purple wash.
• Leaves : Simple, alternate, glabrous, long. Below the leaf surface waxy coating will be
there which prevents evaporation of water. Boot leaf will not completely open until the
panicle comes out.
• Spikelet: Sessile or pedicellate

5. Crop Botany(…conti)
• Androecium : Stamens 3, anthers dorsifixed
• Gynoecium : Style two with plumose stigma,
protogynous stigma receptive to 5-8 days
• Pollination: Self and often cross pollination
• Fruit: Caryopsis
• Seed: Endospermous

6. Economic Importance of Sorghum
• Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world after wheat, maize, rice, and barley.
• Sorghum is cultivated for grain and as a major food crop in much of South Asia, Africa, and Central USA.
• In the USA, Australia and South America, sorghum is grown mainly for animal feed.
• In addition to these uses of the grain, sorghum crop residues and green plants also provide sources of animal
feed, building material, and fuel for cooking, particularly dry land areas.
• Consumption of sorghum for food purposes is declining because of a change in food habits and consumer
preference brought about by economic status, whereas use for animal feed and other industrial purposes is
increasing.
• Sorghum is used for food, fodder, and the production of alcoholic beverages. It is the "fifth most important
cereal crop grown in the world"

7. Grain Composition
• Protein:10.4%
• Carbohydrate:72.2%
• Fat:1.9%
• Fibre:12.6g
• Ash:1.6g
• Calorie:25mg

8. Distribution
SORGHUM is
cultivated in
AFRICA
INDIA
CHINA
JAPAN
USA
MAHARASHTRA
GUJARATH
ANDHRA PRADESH
MADHYA PRADESH
KARNATAKA
TAMIL NADU

9. Classification
• Harlen and De-Wet (1971), gave a modified and simple classification based on spikelet
type
(a). BASIC RACES:
1.Bicolor 2.Guinea 3.Caudatum 4.Kafir 5.Durra
Now cultivated sorghum is Sorghum bicolor
(b). HYBRID RACES:
Guinea bicolor , Caudatum bicolor etc….

10. Area, Production & Productivity
• Area : 4.02 million hectares
• Production : 3.75 million tons
• Productivity : 960 Kg / ha

11. Sorghum Poisoning
• Young plants (30-40 days stage) contain cynogenicglucoside ‘Dhurrin’. Dhurrin in the
stomach of animals is converted into hydrocyanic acid. Thus, when young plants
(about 5kg) of sorghum are fed to animals, it causes carcinogenic death of cow. This is
known as ‘prussic acid poisoning’ or ‘sorghum poisoning’. HCN content is more in
leaves. Concentration of HCN is more in morning, and in summer. The toxic limit of
HCN is 200 ppm and concentration decreases after 50 days. To overcome this
problem, avoid feeding sorghum before 50 days stage. Hay and silage are generally free
of HCN.

12. Sorghum Injury
• Sorghum stubbles/roots have high C:N ratio (50:1) i.e. it contains low amount of N.
Hence microbes take the soil N for decomposition than from the decomposed stubble ,
which causes temporary immobilization of soil N. Hence succeeding crop after
sorghum is affected due to N in the early stage called sorghum injury.

13. Sorghum Soil Requirements
• Sorghum will yield best on deep, fertile, well-drained loamy soils. However, it is quite
tolerant of shallow soil and droughty conditions.
• Soils with clay loam or loam texture, having good water retention capacity are best suited
for sorghum cultivation.
• Sorghum is sensitive to aluminum toxicity and soils with acid saturation higher than 20%
can pose a problem.
• It does well in pH range of 6.0-8.5 as it tolerates considerable salinity and alkalinity.

14. Sorghum Climatic Requirements
• It is also widely grown in temperate regions and at altitudes of up to 2300 m in the tropics.
• It can tolerate high temperature throughout its life cycle better than any other crop.
• Sorghum requires about 26-300C temperature for good growth. The minimum
temperature for the germination of the sorghum seed is7-100C .It is generally grown
between 400North and 400 South of the equator, in warm and hot countries characteristic
of the semi-arid environment.
• It is one of the toughest, drought tolerant crops available hence called as Camel Crop.
• It is a short day C4 plant.

15. Summer Ploughing
• Summer ploughing is advantageous to kill the weed seeds and hibernating insects and
disease organisms by exposing them to the heat of summer.
• Initial ploughing should be carried out at optimum moisture range to get good tilth and
should avoid when moisture is in excess.

16. Varieties
and
Hybrids

17. Field Preparation : Rainfed Sorghum
iField has to be prepared well in advance taking advantage of early showers.
FYM application should be done @ 12.5 t / ha and well incorporated at the time of ploughing.
i
i
.
Chiseling for soils with hard pan
Chisel the soils having hard pan formation at shallow depths with chisel plough at 0.5 M interval, first in one direction and
then in the direction perpendicular to the previous one once in three years. Apply 12.5 t FYM or composted Coir pith/ha
besides chiseling to get an additional yield of about 30% over control.
i
i
i
.
To conserve the soil moisture sow the seeds in flat beds and form furrows between crop rows during inter cultivation or
during third week after sowing.

18. Field Preparation

19. Field Preparation : Irrigated Sorghum
• Nursery Preparation
For raising seedlings to plant one hectare, select 7.5 cents (300 m2) near a water source where water will not stagnate.
• Laying The Nursery
i. Provide three separate units of size 2 m x 1.5 m with 30 cm space in between the plots and all around the unit for irrigation.
ii. Excavate the soil from the inter-space and all around to a depth of 15 cm to form channels and spread the soil removed on the bed and level.
• Main Field Preparation for Irrigated Crop
• Ploughing
Plough the field with an iron plough once (or) twice. Sorghum does not require fine tilth since it adversely affects germination and yield in the case of direct sown crop.
• To overcome the subsoil hard pan in Alfisols (deep red soils) chiselling the field at 0.5 m intervals to a depth of 40 cm on both the directions of the field followed by disc
ploughing once and cultivator ploughing twice help to increase the yield of sorghum and the succeeding blackgram also. This was true with Sorghum followed by Groundnut
also.
• Application of FYM and 100% of recommended N can also be followed. In soils with sub-soil hard pan, chiselling should be done every year at the start of the cropping
sequence to create a favourable physical environment.
• Formation of Ridges and Furrows
i. Form ridges and furrows using a ridger at 6 m long and 45 cm apart
ii. Form irrigation channels across the furrows
iii. Alternatively, form beds of size 10 m2 and 20 m2 depending on the availability of water.

20. Sorghum Sowing
• Field preparation depends on the system of sorghum sowing.
Three systems of sorghum sowing are ;
1.sowing on a flat surface, or
2.using ridge-and-furrow system, or
3.on a broad bed-and-furrow system.
• If sowing is done on a flat surface, the land should be leveled after final ploughing using
bullock-drawn or tractor-drawn levelers.
• Sow the seeds over the line where the fertilizers are placed and cover with soil.
• Sowing time : 3rd week of June to 1st week of July with on-set of monsoon.

21. Ridge-Furrow Sowing System

22. Seed Rate / Seed Treatment
Seed Rate : (Rainfed : 15kg/ha & Irrigated : 7.5-10 kg/ha)
• Treat the seed with 14 ml imidacloprid (Gaucho) + 2 g carbendazin (Bavistin) per 1 Kg
seed OR thiamethoxam (Cruser) 3 g per Kg seed.

23. Spacing
• Row to row 45 cm
• Plant to plant 12 to 15 cm
• Maintain plant population as 1,80,000
plants per ha (72,000 plants per acre)

24. Sorghum Thinning
Thinning should be
completed 10 to 15 days
after emergence
leaving one plant
per hill.

25. Gap Filling
The thinned out seedling is gap-filled on 15 to 20 DAS
maintaining a spacing of 15 cms between two plants.
Earthing up
Mulching

27. Growth Stages
Seedling Vegetative Flowering Maturity Ripening

28. Sorghum Growth Stages

29. Sorghum Growth Stages

30. Nutrient Requirement
• Transplanted crop
• Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendations. If soil test recommendations
are not available, adopt a blanket recommendation of 90 N, 45 P2O5, 45 K2O kg/ha.
• Apply N @ 50:25:25 % at 0, 15 and 30 DAS and full dose of P2O5 and K2O basally
before planting
• In the case of ridge planted crop, open a furrow 5 cm deep on the side of the ridge at
two thirds the distance from the top of the ridge and place the fertilizer mixture along
the furrow and cover with soil upto 2 cm.

31. Fertilizer Application

32. Nutrient Requirement(…conti)
• Direct sown crop
• Apply NPK fertilizers as per soil test recommendations as far as possible. If soil test recommendations are
not available, adopt a blanket recommendation of 90 N, 45 P2O5, 45 K2O kg/ha.
• Apply N @ 50:25:25 % at 0, 15 and 30 DAS and full dose of P2O5 and K2O basally before sowing and if
basal application is not possible the same could be top dressed within 24 hours.
• MICRONUTRIENT
• mix 25 kg of zinc sulphate with sand to make a total quantity of 50 kg and apply on the furrows and on the
top one third of the ridges.
• Basal application of 25 kg ZnSO4/ha-1 for the deficient soils or 12.5 kg Zn SO4 ha-1 + FYM for the Zn
deficient soils
• Basal application of FeSO4, 50 kg/ha along with 12.5 t/ha FYM for iron deficient soils.

33. Water Management
Contingent Plan:
This should be done before 75% of soil moisture is lost from
available water.
Spraying 3% Kaolin (30 g in one litre of water) during periods of
stress will mitigate the ill effects.
Total Water requirement is 450 - 500mm. Irrigation at 50% depletion of
available soil moisture or 0.6 IW/CPE ratio is sufficient. For normal
condition 8 irrigations are to be given i.e. on 1st day, 4th day, 15th , 28th,
40th, 53th, 64th, 76th& 88th days.

34. Critical Stages for Irrigation in Sorghum

35. Weed Management : Rainfed Sorghum
• Keep sorghum field free of weeds from second week after germination till 5th week. If
sufficient moisture is available spray Atrazine 0.25 kg/ha as pre-emergence application
within 3 days after the receipt of the soaking rainfall for sole sorghum and for sorghum
based intercropping system with pulses, use Pendimethalin at 0.75 kg/ha.
• Under rainfed sorghum intercropped with cowpea as a pre- plant incorporation of
isoproturba @ 0.5 kg ha-1 gave good control of weed with applied after 1st and 2nd spell
of rainfall pendimethalin 1.0 kg ha-1 will be safer for both the crops.

36. Weed Management : Irrigated Sorghum
• Apply PE Atrazine @ 0.25 kg/ha on 3-5 DAS followed by 2,4-D @ 1 kg/ha on 20-25 DAS on the
soil surface, using Backpack/Knapsack/Rocker sprayer fitted with a flat fan nozzle using 500 litres
of water/ha (or) if herbicides are not used, hand weeding twice on 10-15 DAS and 30-35 DAS.
• Apply PE Atrazine@0.25 kg/ha on 3-5 DAS followed by one hand weeding on 30-35 DAS.
• In line sown crop, apply PE Atrazine @ 0.25 kg/ha on 3-5 DAS followed by Twin Wheel hoe
weeder weeding on 30-35 DAS.
• In transplanted crop, apply PE Atrazine @ 0.25 kg/ha on 3-5 DAT followed by 2,4-D @ 1 kg/ha
on 20-25 DAT.
• If pulse crop is to be raised as an intercrop in sorghum do not use Atrazine, spray PE
Pendimethalin @ 0.75 kg/ha on 3-5 DAS

37. Celosia argentena
Cyanodon dactylon Cyperus rotundus
Dactyloctenium aegypticum Phyllanthus niruri
Euphorbia hirta
WEEDS in Sorghum Crop

38. Sorghum affected by Striga
Unlike other weeds, which compete for water and
nutrients Striga, as a root parasite, literally sucks the
life out of sorghum plants. In doing so, growth is
stunted and yields are greatly reduced.

39. Striga infested Sorghum field
Striga has been given the common name
of "witchweed" because of attaching to
the roots and robbing the host of water
and nutrients.

40. Control Measures for Striga
• Physical control: Hand pulling at too early stage may break the shoot and reduce the rapid growth.
Sparse infestation should be hand pulled shortly before flowering to prevent build up of seed.
Such hand pulling should continue through to harvest and beyond so long as flowering is occurring.
• Cultural control: It has been noted that sorghum plant shading can restrict Striga growth when generous soil
fertilizer is applied. In areas of high rainfall, factors such as high plant populations, recommended fertility levels, and
good weed control encourage lush crop growth and shading in spite of Striga parasitism. This is not feasible in
moisture stressed rainfed areas. Crop rotation should be practiced with trap crops which stimulate Striga seeds to
germinate without themselves being parasitized. Crops claimed to be effective include: cotton, sunflower,
groundnut, castor, dolichos bean, and linseed.
Unfortunately once a severe infestation has developed, it may take many years to reduce Striga population in the
field to non-damaging level.

41. Control Measures for Striga (…conti)
• Chemical control:
• As Striga is a broadleaf plant, pre-plant herbicides such as Atrazine, Goal, and Flex show some effect though not efficient
enough to be justified. Post-emergence use of 2,4-D is effective when sprayed on the Striga leaves. Though low in cost,
sorghum is vulnerable to stalk twisting and lodging if 2,4-D is sprayed into the leaf whorl. Spraying should only be done
trained labor and cautioned to the hazards.
In summary, control of Striga infestation is difficult and requires an integrated approach.
• Non-host crops must be rotated (for two years in heavily infested fields) with resistant sorghum varieties.
• Following good practices will help reducing striga effect in sorghum crop:
• plant populations and fertility adjusted for soil moisture availability to maximize shading,
• weeding and Striga control through hand pulling and perhaps limited 2,4-D spraying, and finally
• care not to spread seeds of Striga though fodder, manure or contaminated soil on tillage tools.

42. Cropping System
Commonly practiced cropping systems are :
1. Crop rotation practices
Examples
• Two crops in two different seasons within a year i.e. double cropping, e.g. sorghum followed by
chickpea.
• for a two- year period i.e. two year crop rotation, e.g. Year 1: sorghum; Year 2: groundnut; Year 3:
will be sorghum again.
• three-year period i.e three year crop rotation, e.g. Year 1: sorghum; Year 2: groundnut; Year 3:
cotton; Year 4: will be sorghum again.

43. Cropping System (…conti)
2. Intercropping systems
Examples
Sorghum + Cowpea
Sorghum + Greengram
3. Mixed cropping systems
Example : Sorghum + Greengram + Maize
4. Ratoon cropping
Example : Sorghum + Pigeonpea

44. Insect Management• Shoot fly
• Spray any one of the following insecticides 10 and 17 days after sowing using 250 litres of water.
• Endosulfan 35 EC 500 ml/ha Methyldemeton 25 EC 500ml/ha Dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml/ha
• Stem Borer
• Apply any one of the insecticides on the foliage 30 days after sowing.
• Use 500 litres of spray fluid /ha Endosulfan 35 EC 750ml/ha Carbaryl 50 WP 1.0 kg/ha or apply any one of the
following dusts mixed with sand to make up a total quantity of 50 kg in the leaf whorl.
• Carbaryl 10 D 10 kg/ha Endosulfan 4 D 10 kg/ha Avoid spraying and dusting in fodder sorghum 30 days after
sowing.

45. Yield Attributes
• A=No. of plants / m2
• B=No. of ear heads / plant
• C=No. of grains / ear head
• D= Test weight

46. Sorghum Harvesting
• Grain sorghum should be harvested as early as possible to minimize losses due to birds,
insects, mold, and bad weather. Mature grain sorghum in the field contains about 30%
moisture. At moisture levels higher than 25%, the seeds are too soft to withstand the
threshing action. The ideal moisture content for harvesting grain sorghum is about 20%.
• When the crop matures the leaves turn yellow and present a dried up appearance. The
grains are hard and firm. The crop is harvested by cutting the ear-heads first and the stalks
later. The stalks (straw) are cut after a week, allowed to dry and then stacked.

47. Yield
• Sorghum adapts to many environments, requiring 90 to 140 days to mature.
• Highest yields are usually obtained from varieties maturing in 100 to 120 days.
• Grain Yield:2-3t/ha
• Stover Yield:8-10t/ha

48. Storage
• Preparation Of Silage. Silage is pickled green fodder, highly palatable and digestible.
• Dug out a pit in the soil. Size of the pit depends on number of animals, period of feeding and
availability of fodder.
• Generally 15 kg of silage can be stored in the pit having the size of one cubic foot.
• Walls of the pit and bottom can be plastered with cement.
• Chopped green fodder should be filled layer wise and each layer should be well trampled to expel
air.
• Fill the silo 2-3 feet above the ground level, cover with plastic sheet and finally plaster with mud.

49. Hay Preparation
• Hay is prepared after drying the green plants. Pre-flowering stage is ideal for making
hay.
• At this stage sorghum is soft, palatable and rich in protein, carotene and minerals. After
harvests, plants are bundled weighing 5-10 kg.
• Bundles are kept in erect position in groups of 6-8 and sun dried. After drying the hay
is stacked

50. Post Harvest Technologies
THRESHING CLEANINGDRYING

51. Post Harvest Technologies(…conti)
GRADING
PACKAGING

52. Ratoon Sorghum
• Harvest the main crop leaving 15 cm stubbles.
• Remove the first formed two sprouts from the main crop and allow only the later formed two sprouts to
grow. Allow two tillers per hill.
Water Management
•Irrigate immediately after cutting the main crop.
•Irrigation should not be delayed for more than 24 hours after cutting.
•Irrigate on 3rd or 4th day after cutting.
•Subsequently irrigate once in 7 - 10 days.
•Stop irrigation on 70 - 80 days after ratooning.