Sorghum

SORGHUM

Strength, versatility, and nutrition.

Our sorghum products are cultivated with precision and care, providing reliable grain quality for both human consumption and animal feed. With a focus on sustainability and export-grade standards, our sorghum ensures performance across multiple industries.

Specialty Traits (Innovation and Resilience)

Modern breeding has developed varieties with enhanced traits to combat common field challenges.

Grain Sorghum

Primary Use: Production of grain for livestock feed, human consumption (flour, beverages), and ethanol.
Key Characteristics:
- Short Stature: Bred to be relatively short (3-5 feet) for easy and efficient harvest using standard combine equipment.
- High Grain-to-Stover Ratio: Genetic focus is on maximizing the size and weight of the seed head.
- Management: Usually grown as a full-season row crop. Requires high-quality, fully fertile hybrids to maximize yield.
Website Focus: Offer a range of maturity groups (early, medium, late) and showcase resistance to common regional pests and diseases (e.g., sugarcane aphid).

Forage Sorghum

Primary Use: Producing high-volume vegetative mass for livestock feed, often chopped and stored as silage or fed as hay.
Key Characteristics:
- Tall Stature: Bred for maximum height (up to 12+ feet) and biomass accumulation.
- High Tonnage: The primary goal is total dry matter yield per acre, sometimes at the expense of grain or sugar content.
- Dry vs. Conventional: Some varieties are bred with a “dry stalk” for quick drying when making hay, while others are “juicy stalk” types ideal for silage.

Website Focus: Emphasize tons per acre potential and the stalk characteristics (dry vs. juicy).

Sorghum-Sudangrass Hybrids

Primary Use: Production of grain for livestock feed, human consumption (flour, beverages), and ethanol.
Key Characteristics:
- Short Stature: Bred to be relatively short (3-5 feet) for easy and efficient harvest using standard combine equipment.
- High Grain-to-Stover Ratio: Genetic focus is on maximizing the size and weight of the seed head.
- Management: Usually grown as a full-season row crop. Requires high-quality, fully fertile hybrids to maximize yield.
Website Focus: Offer a range of maturity groups (early, medium, late) and showcase resistance to common regional pests and diseases (e.g., sugarcane aphid).

Specialty and Novelty Sorghum Types

These varieties are often developed to address specific challenges or niche markets:
- BMR (Brown Midrib) Sorghum:
  - Trait: A genetic mutation that reduces the amount of lignin in the plant’s cell walls (visible as a brown stripe on the leaf midrib).
  - Benefit: Greatly increases the forage’s digestibility (often by 5–15%), leading to higher milk production or weight gain in livestock. The premium option for dairy and beef silage.
- Sweet Sorghum (Biomass Sorghum):
  - Trait: Bred to accumulate high concentrations of fermentable sugars in the stalk.
  - Benefit: Primarily used for the production of ethanol, syrup, or specialty feed/fiber, focusing on energy value rather than grain.
- Photoperiod Sensitive Sorghum:
  - Trait: These varieties only initiate flowering when daylight hours reach a specific, short duration (late in the season).
Benefit: Allows the plant to continue vegetative growth for the entire season without forming a seed head, maximizing total forage biomass before frost.