Sorghum

Drought, rising production costs and the search for sustainable cultivation strategies also require new impulses in dairy cattle feeding. Sorghum offers an interesting alternative to silage maize – a heat-loving C4-plant that scores highly in terms of dry matter yield, nutrient efficiency and animal health. Luuk Maas, product manager for feed quality at Deutsche Saatveredelung AG (DSV) at the Dutch breeding station in Ven-Zelderheide, takes a closer look at the crop. He provides us with exciting insights into the use of sorghum in dairy cattle feeding.

Mixed cultivation of maize with sorghum is about increasing the reliability of cultivation in dry, low-precipitation regions. Maize serves as a total dry matter, starch and energy supplier, while sorghum ensures yield security with its pronounced drought tolerance. Other advantages include greater biodiversity and an extended harvest window

In the research project ‚Sorghum-Blühmischungen für einen insektenfreundlichen Energiepflanzenanbau‘ (engl.: Sorghum flowering mixtures for insect-friendly energy crop cultivation), sorghum was combined as a cover crop with various undersown crops. The results of the project are presented below.

Many farmers and experts are looking at sorghum as a forage crop and an alternative to maize, because sorghum has many useful properties and is more tolerant to drought. Various project partners working in the “SoBinEn” plant breeding programme have now produced varieties of sorghum that are suitable for use as substrate in biogas plants and as dairy cow feed. The “SoBinEn” research project aims to further the ecological value of sorghum.