Assessment of the effectiveness of biomass accumulation in Sudangrass, sorghum x Sudangrass hybrids and sweet sorghum forms

The increasing tendency of deviations from the agro-climatic norms forces the search of alternative forage crops. The great variety of grain and sweet sorghum forms, sudangrass and their hybrids of the breeding program of Agricultural Institute – Shumen is a good basis for selection of adapted to the actual conditions genotypes, allowing harvest of green mass in different stages of the crops’ development during vegetation. The many years studies – breeding and technological, of the sudangrass, sorghum x sudangrass hybrids and sweet sorghum forms allows summarizing the field test results of Standard varieties and materials bred in the Institute for productivity of green and dry mass. It has been studied the genotype and the agro-climatic conditions’ influence on the productive potential of Standard varieties, populations and sorghum x sudangrass hybrids. Assessment is made for the effectiveness of harvesting the tested origins in four stages of development – brooming, flowering, milky-wax and technological maturity of seeds. The application of different schemes of harvesting diversifies the sources of green mass as rich forage for production of silage, haylage and hay.