Three Cutting-Edge ‘Webinars’ Now Available for Sorghum Growers

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Manhattan, Kansas (February 17, 2011)--Developed with backing from the United Sorghum Checkoff Program, three open-access “webinars” are now available for producers and educators on the Web-based Plant Management Network. The learning modules cover recent research results that could help growers manage sorghum more profitably.

The Web seminars range from 11 to 24 minutes long. They feature the on-farm implications of cutting-edge research studies, as discussed by a university agronomist who participated in each of the three projects:

• Curtis Thompson, weed scientist at Kansas State University, explains what’s ahead in terms of herbicide-tolerant sorghums, scheduled for limited release in 2012 and full release in 2013. Developed via traditional breeding methods, the HT sorghums are no silver bullet in terms of overall weed control. Combined with good management practices, however, they can meet what U.S. sorghum growers identified in 2006 as their high-priority need: post-emergence herbicides for controlling grassy weeds.

• Scott Staggenborg, K-State Research and Extension crop systems scientist, describes research that included 13 years of corn- and sorghum-performance test data from more than 200 stress-prone environments in Kansas and Nebraska. The study also included Kansas’ and Nebraska’s typical production budget for each of the 13 years, as well as its annual average sorghum-to-corn price ratio. This giant data set revealed both agronomic and economic factors that can help producers determine when grain sorghum is likely to be more profitable to grow than corn.

• Rick Kochenower, crops and soils scientist, Oklahoma State University, helps viewers see the advantages of growing grain sorghum in a no-till system. Crop residue helps reduce soil-moisture evaporation and prevent runoff. In the southern High Plains, however, that fact can almost double sorghum yields in some years. On average, test weights are higher, too. In fact, the least efficient use of moisture in the Oklahoma Panhandle is continuous, convention-till wheat. In contrast, OSU research has found that increasing cropping intensity to include fallow plus no-till wheat double-cropped with grain sorghum and soybeans can take evaporation losses below 10 percent. (Note: Success will also depend on proper weed control and fertilization.)

The Plant Management Network is a nonprofit, online publisher jointly managed by the American Society of Agronomy, the American Phytopathological Society, and Crop Science Society of America -- in cooperation with other scientific societies, agricultural and horticultural universities, and agribusiness. Its mission is to develop and offer science-based resources to help students, consultants, educators, researchers and growers.