Sorghum, an Alternative in Complementarity with Corn, Adapted to  Climate Changes - Amzacea Village, Constanta

Dumitru Manole, Ana-Maria Giumba, Laurenţiu Ganea

Sport Agra SRL Amzacea

Keywords: sorghum, hybrids, climate changes, tehnologyes, pathogens. 

Abstract: The geographical area between the Danube and the Black Sea - Dobrogea, represents the geographical area with the highest aridity indices. The average precipitation in the period 1961-2016 was 464 mm. Climate changes in recent years have accentuated this phenomenon. In recent years, production levels of 1-2 tons/ha were achieved on large areas of corn, or they were a total disaster. In the year we were crossing over 40. 000 ha in Constanta county cultivated with corn were a total disaster. In these particularly dry conditions, sorghum becomes an essential alternative. At SPORT AGRA SRL from Amzacea Village, Constanta County, in the last 15 years, a whole series of sorghum hybrids have been experimented and researched, adapting technologies to climate changes.
These technologies include, among others, the following elements: changing the planting period by approximately 25-30 days compared to the recommendations of classical technologies (sowing starting from the first decade of April in order to use the moisture in the soil layer at the depth of seed incorporation 4-5 cm), the use of early hybrids in order to overcome the periods of heat that in this area start from mid-June, the use of technological means of crop protection that include pre- and post-emergent herbicides, seed treatment prior to planting. In these conditions of development of non-irrigated sorghum technology, we propose planting this crop earlier (25-30 days compared to classic technology).
In this way, the sorghum will benefit from the water reserve accumulated during the fall of the previous year. The productions of the sorghum hybrids used in the observation research fields were over 10 to/ha in most of the tested hybrids.