High-yielding grain sorghum cultivars released in India for enhanced productivity

Abstract

Sorghum is one of the important dryland crops grown mostly under rainfed conditions for food, feed and fodder. It has good adaptation to different soil and weather conditions. In case of grain sorghum, there are distinct types adapted to kharif (rainy) and rabi (post-rainy) seasons. The crop improvement efforts in grain sorghum starting from early 1960s has resulted in the release of nearly 80 high-yielding cultivars (hybrids as well as varieties) for cultivation across the country. Apart from these, a number of locally adapted high-yielding cultivars have been released through the research efforts at various AICRP on Sorghum centres spread across the states. Availability of an array of high-yielding cultivars possessing biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and good grain quality provides ample opportunity to the sorghum farmers in different states to choose the appropriate cultivars for enhancing the profit out of dryland farming.