Lets make up for the shortage of fodder. Lets plant sorghum.

Over the past few decades, along with the increase in drought periods due to climate change and global warming, forage production in rangelands has faced a serious challenge, the adverse effects of which have faced livestock farmers with problems in providing livestock food.

According to Akhbar Sabz Keshavarzi; According to meteorological statistics, over the past 50 years, the temperature increase in Iran has been 1.2 degrees Celsius, which is a very high figure and effective in the growth of plants and agricultural products. Due to this increase, many pasture and forage plants have a shorter life span and after a short time they dry out and become inaccessible.

On the other hand, our traditional livestock farming is accustomed to using pastures, and the shortening of the life span of pasture plants makes it difficult to feed livestock, especially since the hot seasons and summers in Iran are relatively long. According to estimates, 70 to 75 percent of livestock and animal husbandry costs are providing food for livestock, and when there is no more fodder in the pastures, other inputs such as corn and barley or fodder such as alfalfa must be used.

It is natural that in the current economic conditions, sanctions, and rising prices of livestock food items, providing food for livestock is a major problem, especially since a large part of these materials are imported and their order registration, purchase, and importation take a long time. More than $3 billion worth of animal feed is imported annually, which itself brings its own problems.

Among the forage plants that can provide a large portion of the food needed by livestock during the dry and hot months of the year is sorghum or Sudan grass, because when there are almost no pasture plants in hot regions, this plant can provide fodder and a solution. The price of dry hay on the farm is currently more than 1,000 tomans per kilogram, which increases to about 2,000 tomans with transportation costs.

Now, if a rancher who has some land can, instead of renting it out for crops that are not usually well-received or for growing tomatoes and onions, plant Sudan grass to provide fodder for his livestock.

Introduction to Sorghum

Sorghum or Sudan grass is a plant from the grass family that, unlike its winter cultivation, is specifically cultivated in the summer and warm months of the year. This plant is considered to be native to ancient Egypt and grows wild in Africa.

Due to its ability to grow in a short period of time and its multiple uses, the cultivation of this plant is very cost-effective and meets the needs of livestock farmers during times of fodder shortage.

Cultivation method

Sorghum grows well in the climatic conditions of Iran and can be cultivated in all warm provinces. The type of soil does not create any restrictions for its cultivation and it can be cultivated in light to heavy soils. To prepare the land, a deep plowing in the fall and a light plowing in the spring is sufficient. If it is placed in rotation, it can be cultivated after harvesting crops with deep roots such as beets and potatoes.

Like many crops, it requires phosphate fertilizers (200 kg before planting) and nitrogen fertilizers (100 kg at the time of planting). After each row of harvest, 100 kg of nitrogen fertilizer should be added to the soil. The amount of seed used is between 15 and 20 kg per hectare and the plant density should be between 200 and 300 thousand per hectare.
Cultivating in rows makes it easier to harvest and collect.

Harvesting Sorghum

Sorghum has two types: seed and fodder, and here we will focus more on fodder sorghum. The first layer is done about two months after planting, when the height of the plants is between 1.5 and 2 meters. The second layer is done about 50 days after the first layer, and the third layer depends on the arrival of autumn cold.

The amount of fodder harvest varies between 100 and 150 tons per hectare (depending on the number of plants), from which 5 to 11 tons of dry fodder are obtained. Sorghum should be harvested before the limbs become woody. Like corn, this plant is also suitable for storage in silos, and that is when the grains have a paste-like shape.

Benefits of sorghum

This plant ranks fifth in terms of nutritional value of cereals, after wheat, rice, corn, and barley, and about 80 million tons of it are produced annually and consumed to provide food for humans and livestock. The area under cultivation of this plant has gradually increased in Iran and is cultivated in South Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Yazd, Isfahan, Gilan, and Mazandaran.

The protein percentage of its varieties is between 8 and 16 percent and contains a lot of the amino acids lysine, methionine, and fiber, which are very essential for livestock feed. The seeds of this plant can be added to poultry feed at a rate of 50 to 70 percent if corn is not available.