SUDAN GRASS VARIETIES

Sudan Grass is an annual forage grass native to areas throughout Africa and southern Asia. This is a valuable forage plant and grows up to 3 m (10 ft). The thick, erect stems usually arise in groups from a single clump. The leaves are long and narrow and are arranged at the ends of the stems on loose-bending branches. Because of its tolerance to long, hot, dry periods of weather, Sudan grass is well adapted to the drier areas of the country. Sudan grass is sometimes considered dangerous to grazing livestock because it may contain varying amounts of hydrocyanic acid, a toxic substance. Danger of hydrocyanic acid poisoning is eliminated by delaying grazing until the plants reach a height of 91 cm (36 in) or more, at which stage they are relatively free of the substance. The acid content of the grass may also be decreased by limiting planting to fertile soils with large water-holding capacity.

Botanical Name : Sorghum vulgare var. sudanense

Family : Poaceae (Graminae)

Subfamily : Panicoideae

Tribe : Andropogoneae

VARIETIES

Meethi Sudan: This variety is a derivative of the cross involving sweet jowar JS 263. It is tall plant, height 250–320 cm, vigorous, thin stemmed, sweet and profuse tillering. It is more leafy with green mid rib and has high leaf stem ratio. 50% flowering is attained in 50– 55 days and maturity in 90–95 days. Panicles are very loose, open glumes awned and straw coloured. The variety is moderately resistant to red leaf spot. The average green fodder yield is 77.7 t/ha (CVRC- Notification no. 786 dated 2nd February 1976).

Sweet Sudan Grass: The variety was released in 1978. (CVRC- Notification no. 1004 dated 23rd March 1978).

Punjab Sudex Chari-1 (LY-250): This variety is a sorghum sudex hybrid derived from Sorghum (2077 A) × Sudan grass (SGL-87) hybridization followed by selection. It is a multicut variety providing 3-4 cuts. Stem is thin, palatable. The variety is higly resistant to anthracnose. It produceses 95 t/ha green fodder and 25 t/ha dry matter. (CVRC- Notification no. 408(E) dated 4th April 1995).