TESTING AND RELEASE OF FORAGE SORGHUM CULTIVARS ADAPTED TO UPPER MIDWEST STATES

The Iowa State University (ISU) sorghum breeding program is the northernmost public program in the U.S. dedicated to the development of parental lines for the production of forage hybrids with adaptation to shorter growing seasons. The goal of the proposed project is to test and release new ISU sorghum cultivars adapted to northern latitudes to provide high-yielding high-nutritive value forage to beef and dairy cattle operations in the Upper Midwest U.S. Advanced experimental hybrids for alternative systems (hay, green chopping, grazing, and silage) will be evaluated in regional trials comprising eight locations in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.Additionally, management treatments relevant to the target environments will be evaluated to select the best performing hybrids for those production systems.The following specific objectives will be accomplished:1) Objective 1: Identify high-yielding sorghum parental lines and hybrid combinations adapted to Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.2) Objective 2: Identify superior forage sorghum hybrids for specific market needs.Sub-Obj. 2A. Determine best performing hybrids based on biomass composition analysis for beef and dairy cattle productions systems.Sub-Obj. 2B. Evaluate experimental hybrids using alternative management systems for specific regions to improve farmers' profitability and environmental sustainability.3) Objective 3: Release of superior parental lines identified in Obj. 1 and 2.