Postrainy season sorghum: Constraints and breeding approaches

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the fifth most importantcereal crop in the world. Different types of sorghum arerecognized. These are: grain sorghum, dual purpose(grain and fodder) sorghum, fodder sorghum, foragesorghum and sweet stalk sorghum. Also two types ofsorghums are noted based on the season of adaptation;these are rainy (wet) season or postrainy (dry) seasonsorghum. There are two distinct sorghum growingseasons in India, kharif (rainy season; June?October) andrabi (postrainy season; October?January). In India, thegrain productivity is about 1.2 t ha-1 in the rainy season,and about 0.8 t ha-1 in the postrainy season whereas theglobal grain productivity of sorghum is 1.4 t ha-1(FAOSTAT 2011). The grain sorghum requirements forthese two seasonal adaptations are quite diverse due todifferent agroclimatic conditions (Rana et al. 1997).There has been a significant decline in area under grainand dual purpose sorghum during the rainy season due tograin molds, but the area has remained stable in thepostrainy season where mostly dual purpose sorghumsare cultivated

B V S Reddy et al., 'Postrainy season sorghum: Constraints and breeding approaches', Journal of SAT Agricultural Research, vol. 10(1), pp.1-12, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, 2013