Forage capacity of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor var. saccharatum [L.] Mohlenbr.) under semi-arid conditions and relationships between characteristics

This study was designed to determine the forage capacity of some sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor var. saccharatum [L.] Mohlenbr.) genotypes under semi-arid climatic conditions. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design, with a total of 4 replications, in 2016 and 2017 under second crop conditions of the Harran plain (36° 54^′ 11.82^” N and 38° 55^′ 08.66^″ E), Sanliurfa, Turkey. A total of 21 sweet sorghum genotypes were used in the study. Significant differences were found between the genotypes for the traits that were tested (P ≤ 0.01). The average of two years' results demonstrated a range of values for dry matter yield and biomass yield, resulting in values ranging from 36.55 to 66.29 t/ha and 138.86 to 224.61 t/ha, respectively. The plant height exhibited a range of 333.6 to 418.8 cm, while the stem diameter demonstrated a variation of 22.58 to 25.85 mm. The dry matter content, stem proportion, leaf proportion and panicle proportion exhibited a range of 25.28 to 33.09%, 76.63 to 87.63%, 8.03 to 13.81% and 2.24 to 9.53%, respectively. Based on the tested characteristics, the genotypes UNL-Hybrid-3, Theis, Smith, M81-E, Corina, Ramada and Rio were found to be the most suitable for forage. According to the results of the correlation analysis, when high biomass and dry matter yield are targeted, taking into consideration genotypes with longer flowering and physiological maturation duration, taller and more leafy genotypes as selection criteria will increase the breeding success.