Nutritional content, performance and ratooning ability of four sorghum genotypes

Abstract

Sorghum is a grain plant that is a source of food, biofuel and feed, which can be produced using the techniques of ratoon cultivation. The objective of this study is to assess the nutrition content, the performance of the four sorghum genotypes and the vegetative characteristics of the sorghum ratoon. The research was carried out from December 2020 to July 2021 at the Ciawi Research Garden, the Livestock Research Institute. The study employed four treatments (genotype) and three replications of random block design. The range of protein content, crude fat crude fiber and ash in the four genotypes of sorghum was 7.91-9.30, 1.91-2.69, 33.41-37.57 and 8.25-9.11%, respectively. Genotype significantly affected P<0.05 on plant height, stem height, leaf width, internode length, flag leaf width and fresh weight, but not significantly different P>0.05 on leaf length, stem diameter and flag leaf length on the main plant. Genotype had no significant effect (P>0.05) on plant height, number of tillers, leaf length, leaf width and fresh weight of ratoons. It was concluded that the ability of ratoon in sorghum was not affected by the genotype of sorghum.