On October 4, 2022, as part of the business program of the international specialized exhibition of agricultural machinery AGROSALON, an open session "From fiber to superfood" will be held. The participants of the session will discuss the cultivation of several crops, including sorghum.
Grain, fodder, sugar, broom - all sorghum. There are also sorghum-Sudanese hybrids... The genetic diversity of the crop is surprising and causes a wide range of uses.
In terms of world production, sorghum ranks fifth among cereals. Up to 7 million tons of sorghum grain are sold annually on the world market. 40% of the production is used for food purposes. In the countries of Africa and Asia, sorghum is consumed in the form of cereals and flour, drinks are made from it. Gluten-free grains are increasingly found on the shelves of health food stores around the world. In the countries of the European continent, the crop is actively cultivated for silage. Sorghum silage is almost as good as corn silage in terms of its fodder characteristics and is used both for livestock feed and for biogas production.
The interest of livestock breeders in the culture has increased with the advent of hybrids containing less tannins and Dhurrin glucoside, which is dangerous for ruminants. Breeders continue to work on increasing yields, improving early maturity and feed value, focusing on the characteristics that are important when using grain for food purposes.
Demand for sorghum is also observed in the Russian market. The official statistics of cereal production in our country barely reflects interest in the crop, but its surge is noted by seed suppliers.
The introduction of sorghum into economic crop rotations in most cases is dictated by its main advantage in relation to corn: the crop is more drought-resistant and can be cultivated where growing corn without irrigation is impractical. There are other benefits as well. Relatively low susceptibility to diseases and pests allows farms to save on plant protection products and the number of work operations. A well-developed root system contributes to the loosening of the soil - and this is a separate bonus for those working on minimum and no-till technologies. In addition, sorghum harvested for grain leaves a good amount of crop residues in the field, which has a positive effect on increasing fertility.
Sorghum is considered an excellent predecessor for sunflower, soybeans, peas. And in crop rotations saturated with grain, it will find its rightful place.
On the current benefits of growing sorghum in an open session "From fiber to superfood" will tell the head of sales in the CIS countries of the Spanish seed company Advanta Seeds, Ph.D., Igor Redkozubov. The speaker will dwell on the technology of crop cultivation practiced by Russian farms, present the results of the work of domestic sorghum growers.
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The open session "From fiber to superfood" will be held on October 4, 2022. More details at the link