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What is BMR?.ppt |
BMR: What Goes Wrong?.ppt | BMR: Improved Crop Production.ppt |
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BMR and the Environment.ppt |
Typically, regular sorghum sudangrass has not been grown for use in feeding lactating dairy cattle because its feeding value is less than corn silage Additionally, under good management and soil conditions, sorghum sudangrass has yielded less than corn silage.
Recent research has found BMR sorghum sudangrass to have a feeding value which may equal or exceed corn silage. This research, conducted by Tom Kilcer of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County, suggests that current recommendations and practices for managing sorghum sudangrass may be inadequate and are limiting quality and yield.
With improved feed value, BMR sorghum sudangrass has many potential advantages as a replacement for corn grown for silage. Many of these advantages are also potential water quality benefits as well. These advantages include:
 | Pesticide use: BMR sorghum sudangrass is being gown without use of pesticides. |
| Soil Erosion: As a crop USDA NRCS rates sorghum sudangrass as having ½ the soil erosion potential as corn. Additionally, recent research suggests that sorghum sudangrass regrowth may hold potential as a winter cover crop. |
| Manure Nutrient Management: Under a two cut per season harvest system, sorghum sudangrass allows for a summer manure application unlike corn (on most farms). This allows for application of manure nutrients during a less hydrologically sensitive time of year. |
| Feed Nutrient Management: Under intensive management, BMR sorghum sudangrass has a higher protein content than corn silage. This fact, coupled with a greater fiber digestibility, may allow for reduced purchased feed protein, which in turn would reduce the amount of feed phosphorus entering the farm. Additionally there is some evidence that BMR sorghum sudangrass under intensive management may a have higher phosphorus content than corn silage, which could further reduce the need for purchased feed phosphorus as well as improve the recycling of soil phosphorus. |
| Versatility: BMR sorghum sudangrass can tolerate a shorter growing season than corn, thus allowing for more flexibility in planting date. Its harvest window is larger than corn for silage, and harvest risk can be spread out over two harvest. Sorghum- sudangrass can be grown using conventional hay forage planting and harvesting equipment. It doesn’t require a separate line of equipment like corn, nor does it require large equipment. |
Last Updated 1/08/01
