Sweet Sorghum Seed Prices and Planting Methods Explained
Sweet sorghum is a variety of grain sorghum in the grass family, genus Sorghum. It originated in Africa and was introduced into China via India during the Wei and Jin dynasties. It has long been cultivated as a forage and sugar crop and is known as “northern sugarcane.” It has a very wide range of uses: it not only produces grain, but also sugar and syrup, and can additionally be used to make liquor, alcohol and monosodium glutamate. Let us take a look below at sweet sorghum seed prices and planting methods!
How much is a jin of sweet sorghum seed?
The price of sweet sorghum seed is about 10 to 15 yuan per jin, but it varies with seed quality, variety and the market. Sweet sorghum has a long history of cultivation in China, distributed from Heilongjiang in the north to Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces in the south, and from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west to Jiangsu, Shanghai and other provinces and municipalities in the east, and it is especially common in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, as the living standards of urban and rural residents have risen, it is no longer used as a staple food, and the cultivated area has decreased; today it is seen only in scattered plantings.
Sowing methods for sweet sorghum
1. Choosing and preparing the land: Sweet sorghum has a well-developed root system and a strong capacity to absorb water and nutrients, so it is best to choose level, loose and fairly fertile plots for planting. It is not strict about the preceding crop, and either maize stubble or soybean stubble will do. However, before sowing, the land must be finely prepared, raked level and raked fine.
2. Selecting and sunning the seed: Before sowing sweet sorghum, carry out winnowing or screening to discard small, shriveled and diseased grains, and select large, plump seeds for production use. At the same time, choose fine sunny weather and sun the seed for 2 to 3 days to improve seed vigor and germination rate.
3. Chemical seed dressing: For chemical seed dressing before sowing sweet sorghum, a high-quality seed coating agent may be used to control smut, seedling-stage diseases, nutrient deficiency disorders and underground pests, or 25% triadimefon wettable powder may be used to dress the seed at 0.3 to 0.5% of the seed weight.
4. Sowing time: The sowing date of sweet sorghum is determined according to the growth period of the variety, soil temperature and soil moisture. Generally, it is suitable when the soil temperature in the 5 cm plough layer is stable at 10 to 12 degrees C and the soil moisture content is 15 to 20%. Late-maturing varieties should be sown early at the proper time, and early-maturing varieties sown late at the proper time.
5. Sowing density: The sowing density of sweet sorghum follows the principle of “dense on fertile land, sparse on poor land.” Usually, with 65 to 70 cm ridges and double rows drilled at equal spacing on the ridge, the sowing rate for short-stalked varieties is generally 15 to 22.5 kg per hectare.
6. Sowing depth: The sowing depth of sweet sorghum is suitably 3 to 4.5 cm, but the depth should be flexibly adjusted for different soil types: clay soil, which is compact and prone to crusting, should be sown shallowly, while sandy soil, which holds moisture poorly, may be sown somewhat more deeply.
Planting methods for sweet sorghum
1. Thinning and final thinning: For sweet sorghum, thin the seedlings at the 3 to 4 leaf stage after emergence and set the final stand at the 5 to 6 leaf stage. When setting the stand, keep seedlings at equal spacing, keep strong and upright seedlings, and do not keep double-plant seedlings or second-growth seedlings; rogue out off-type plants as well to improve purity and give full play to the yield-increasing effect of good seed.
2. Intertillage management: During the seedling stage of sweet sorghum, carry out intertillage 2 to 3 times. The first is done together with final thinning, the second 10 to 15 days later, and one intertillage around the jointing stage, combined with topdressing and earthing up, to promote growth while enhancing wind resistance, lodging resistance and the soil's capacity to store water and conserve moisture.
3. Timely irrigation: The water requirement of sweet sorghum at the seedling stage accounts for about 10% of the total water requirement over the whole growth period, the jointing to booting stage 50%, the booting to flowering stage 15%, the grain-filling stage 20%, and the maturity stage about 5%. Water should be applied timely and in appropriate amounts at the jointing to booting stage, the flowering stage and the grain-filling stage.
4. Rational fertilization
(1) When planting sweet sorghum, apply sufficient base fertilizer in combination with land preparation. The seed fertilizer should be mainly phosphate fertilizer; 30 to 35 kg per mu of 35% special compound fertilizer may be applied, together with 1500 to 2000 kg of organic fertilizer.
(2) After sweet sorghum emerges, a seedling-promoting fertilizer may be applied according to the emergence situation. At the jointing stage, generally 1000 kg per mu of decomposed farmyard manure and 10 to 15 kg per mu of urea may be applied.
(3) At the booting stage of sweet sorghum, 1000 kg per mu of farmyard manure and 20 kg per mu of urea may be applied.
(4) At the grain-filling stage of sweet sorghum, 1000 kg per mu of farmyard manure and 8 to 10 kg per mu of urea may be applied.
(5) From the heading to the grain-filling stage of sweet sorghum, spray an appropriate amount of potassium dihydrogen phosphate to promote early maturity and increase yield.