. pnntemps. regionalsohappenstobethedriestpartof 1960; Porteretal. 1960; olsonlgtl;hegd,e

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1 COMPARISON OF SORGHUM WITH WHEAT AND BARLEY GROWN ON DRYLAND D. J. MAJOR and W. M. HAMMAN Research Statin, Agriculture Canada, Lethbridee, Alberta TIJ 48I. Received 26 Apr. 1980, ucceprecl t O Mlrn, D. J. nn Heuuen, W. M Cmparisn f srghum with wheat and barley grwn n dryland. Can. J. Plant Sci. 6l Srghum (Srghum biclr Mench 'Pride Pl30'), wheat (Triticum aestivum L. 'Neepawa'), and barley (Hrdeumvulgare L. 'Galt') were harvested at 1-wk intervals n dryland at Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1976 and 1977 and separated int leaves, stems, heads, and seed. Whle-plant yields were higher in l9'76 than in 1977 and srghum whle-plant yields were higher than barley r wheat in bth years. Srghum grain yields were similar t thse f barley, but were greater than thse f wheat. Althugh srghum is abut 40 days later maturing than barley r wheat, its whle-plant and filling-perid duratins were nt very different frm the ther tw crps. Srghum used water mre efficiently than wheat r barley under drught cnditins. The biggest disadvantage fpresent srghum hybrids appears t be slw grwth in spring. Du srgh (Srghum biclr Mench 'Pride P130'), du b16 (Triticum aestivum L. 'Neepawa') et de I'rge (Hrdeum vulgare L. 'Galt') nt 6t6 r6clt6s h intervalles d'une semaine sur sl nn inigu6 ii Lethbridge (Alberta) en 1976 et 19'77 et s6par6s en leurs cmpsantes feuilles, tiges, 6pis et grains. Les rendements de la plante entibre nt 6t6 sup6rieurs en 1976 qu'en 1977 et ceux du srgh nt d6pass6 ceux de I'rge et du bl6 pur les deux ann6es. Les rendements grainiers du srgh nt 6t6 cmparables i ceux de I'rge, mais nt surpass6 ceux du bl6. Bien que le srgh sit d'envirn 40 jurs plus tardif que l'rge u le b16, la dur6e de ses stades de v6g6tatin et de remplissage du grain ne diffdre pas sensiblement de celle des deux autres cultures. Le srgh utilise l'eau plus efficacement que le bl6 u I'rge en ardiculture, mais I'incnv6nient maieur des hvbrides actuels semble 6tre leur lenteur de crissance au. pnntemps. Early cultivars f srghum (Srghumbiclr efficiency fr srghum in suthern Alberta is Mench) such as Pride Pl30 appear t be highest at lw ppulatin densities and adapted t thse regrins in the sutheast narrwrwspacings(hedge etal.1976). crner f Alberta that have at least 2 crn Althugh estimates f water-use effiheat units (Majr et al. 1916). Since this ciency in the literature (Grimes and Musick reginalshappenstbethedriestpartf 1960; Prteretal. 1960; lsnlgtl;hegd,e the prvince, srghum's tlerance f etal.l976)aregenerallyhigherfrsrghum drught stress (Sanchez-Diaz and Kramer than fr barley (Hbbs and Krgman 1974; 1971;Beadle etal.1973)alssuggeststhatit Singh and Ramakrishna 1977; Sepaskhah may be suited t this area f Alberta. 1978) r fr wheat (Hbbs and Krgman Water-use efficiency, measured as yield 1974; Singh and Ramakrishna 1977; Thill et prduced per unit f water used, is a useful al. 1978), direct cmparisns are rare. measure f crp perfrmance at lw sil Barley apparently has higher water-use misture availability and, apparently, in- efficiency than wheat (Hbbs and Krgman creases as stred sil misture increases 1974; Singh and Ramakrishna 1977) and (Brwn and Shrader 1959). Water-use srghum is a mre efficient user f water Can. J. Plant Sci. 61: (Jan. f981) than crn (Olsn 1971) JI

2 38 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCE As an alternative crp t temperate cereals in suthern Alberta, srghum wuld ffer market advantages in additin t drught tlerance because it culd replace crn in feed ratins and as a distilling grain. Additinal infrmatin is required n hw srghum grws in suthern Alberta, hwever. t decide if it is a viable alternative t spring wheat r barley. Grwth analyses have been used by Kebede (1976) and Gibsn and Schertz (19'77) t study srghum grwth and have been used at Lethbridge n rape and crn (Majr 1977a,b) t btain infrmatin n hw these crps grcw under irrigatin in suthern Alberta. Therefre, the bjective f this study was t cmpare rates and duratin f grwth and water-use efficiencies f srghum, wheat, and barley n dryland. MATERIALS AND METHODS Srghum (Srghum biclr Mench 'Pride P130'), spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. 'Neepawa'), and barley (Hrdeum vulgare L. 'Galt') were grwn n a Chernzemic Orthic Dark Brwn Lethbridge silty clay lam at the Lethbridge Research Statin. These three cultivars are cmmnly grwn in suthern Alberta. The plts, 40 rws each, 6 m lng and 0.23 m apart, were seeded n 13 May 1976 and 3 May 1977 using a randmized cmplete blck design with fur replicates. The plt land had been fallwed the previus summer and was fertilized with bradcast at224kglhain 1976 and24o kg/ha in 1977 and incrprated using disc and harrw befre seeding. Seeding rates were l0 kg/ha fr srghum and 60 kg/ha fr barley and wheat. The number f tillers with heads at maturity fr srghum, barley, and wheat were 60, 410, and 310/m2 inlg'/6 and 15, 180, and 25Olmz in19'77. Brmxynil sprayed at 0.56 kg/ha pstemergence and peridic heing gave gd weed cntrl. A sample f plants was taken weekly frm 1m f tw rws f each species frm 15 June 1976 andi June 1977 until maturity. Plants were separated int green leaves, stems, and heads, dried at 70"C fr 5 days, and weighed. Heads were then threshed and the seed weighed. As the seasn prgressed, the samples became t large t separate entirely s the fresh weight f the whle sample was measured and a subsample f at least l0 plants was weighed, separated int cmpnent parts, dried, and reweighed These data were used t estimate the distributin f dry weisht in leaves, stems, heads (panicles r sikes) and seed f the fresh weight sample' The means and standard errrs f the weight f each plant cmpnent were calculated fr each,urnpiing date and a three-pint mving mean- f the dry weights was calculated fr graphic resentatin f the data. Whle-plant grwth iates (expressed as kg/ha/day) were estimated fr the perid f linear dry matter accumulatin, and divided int final yield t determine effective duratin f the crp. This was called effective whle-plant duratin (EWPD). Similarly, gratn yields were divided by grain grwlh rates. t btain estimates f the effective filling perid duratin (EFPD). This technique has been described in detail fr the filling perid f crn (Daynard et al. 1971). S-il misture was mnitted at depths f 23, 46,'75, and 105 cm each week, using a Nuclear Chicag Mdel 5810 neutrn prbe in each f the plts.1he sil had a field capacity f 23%^by weight and a permanent wilting pint f 137' The water table was at a depth f abut 3 m' Analysis f variance was used t cmpare sll misturl cntent fr the three species with species as mainplt, depth as subplt, and sample date as sub-subplts. Between any tw sampxng dates, evaptranspiratin was estimated by adding rainfall t the reductin in sil misture cntent. Water use efficiencies were calculated by dividing whle-plant r grain yields int ttal evaptranspiratin. RESULTS Whle-plant yields were higher in 1976 than in 1971 fr all three species (Table 1) but grain yields were slightly higher fr srghum ind barley in 1911 than in Srghum whle-plant and grain yields were significantly higher than wheat in bth years. The seasnal pattern f whle-plant dry weight accumulatin was similar fr wheat and barley but srghum grwth started later and cntinued later in the seasn (Fig. 1). In 1976, whle-plant grwth f barley and wheat levelled ff abut 1 Aug. and, in 1977, abrtt 15 July fr barley and l5 Aug' fr wheat. Whle-plant grwth f srghum

3 MAJOR AND HAMMAN COMPARISON OF SORGHUM. WHEAT AND BARLEY t9-7 7 L E AVES.i E J F r 9 lrj = E r S.E IIII T I I III IITI. i5 JULY 5 AUG STE MS WHOLE PLANT -x-x-xy\- : ^\x_!d\r_x T- -rif IIII IIlIIIII 15 2a t SEP JUNE JULY AUG t5 27 SEP Fig. I. Seasnal changes in dry weight f plant cmpnents and standard errrs f whle plant dry weights fr srghum (x-x), wheat (-), and barley (.--.) in 1976 and 19'77.

4 40 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCE Table 1. Yields and grwth rates fr whle-plant and grain and effective duratin fr the whle-plant and filling t".t"a "t r".tt"., Species Pl30 srghum Neepawa wheat Galt barley P I 30 srghum Neepawa wheat Galt barley 9266a 1440 b 7328 b 8271a 5061 b 653'7 ab Yield (kg/ha) Grain Grwth rate 1t<g/ha/day) Grain O a \44.6 a 12O.9 a 3098 b b c 3331 ab ab a t a 163.5a 109.4b 2623 b 10.4 b 85.2 b 3834 a a 149.'7 a Effective duratin (days) Whleplant Whleplant Whleplant 65a 62a :tla 5l b 72a 43b Filling perid 33a 29a 5la 4Oa 3lab 26b d-b Within clumns and years, means fllwed by the same letter d nt differ (P : 0.05) using Duncan's new multiple range test. cntinued well int September in bth years but the increase was small after 15 Aug. in Srghum grain yield increased until 15 Sept. During the perid l5 Aug.-15 Sept. fbth years, srghum leaf, stem, and head dry weight decreased. Grwth f leaves and stems f barley slwed r maximized abut I July in l9'76 and l9ll, and nly seed yield and whle-plant yield cntinued t increase. Wheat leaf, stem, and head dry weights stayed the same r decreased after l5 Aug. and 15 July in l9l6 and 1977, respectively, while seed dry weight cntinued t increase. Whle-plant and grain grwth rates were estimated frm Fig. I during the linear phase f grwth. Srghum had significantly higher whle-plant grwth rate than wheat but nt barley (Table l). Grain grwth rate did nt differ between the three species in 1976 but barley grain grwth rate was highest in In 19'7 6, yields f barley and srghum were similar because grain grwth rates and filling perids were similar. Wheat grain grwth rate and filling perid tended t be lwer than bth barley and srghum, althugh nt always significantly different. Nevertheless, the grain yield f wheat was lwer. Althugh srghum matured 40 days later than either wheat r barley, its effective whle-plant duratin (EWPD) was nt significantly greater than that f barley (Table l). The effective filling perid duratin (EFPD) was the same fr the three species in 197 6, but lnger fr srghum than barley in Barley had a higher grain grwth rate than srghum in 1977, but, because f a shrter filling perid, grain yield was nt significantly lwer. Precipitatin fr May, June, and July was 85 and 55V f the 30-yr average ( 173 mm) in 1916 and 1977, respectively, and 95 and 78V f the 30-yr average fr May thrugh September (249 mm) in the 2 yr, respectively. The initial sil misture readings indicated 334 and297 mmin 1976 and 1977 in the tp.22 m f sil. Seasnal evaptranspiratin paralleled grwth, with peak use ccurring when the respective species were heading (Table 2). There was n interactin between species and sil misture cntent at the fur depths measured. In 1977, evaptranspiratin rates declined in July and remained lw until near maturity. The slight increase in evaptranspiratin rates in August 1977, as a result f 80 mm f rainfall, was accmpanied by an apparent resumptin f grwth in srghum and barley. DISCUSSION The cntinued grwth fkernels f srghum after whle-plant grwth stpped, particularly in 1977, suggests that carbhydrates were translcated frm ther plant parts t

5 MAJOR AND HAMMAN COMPARISON OF SORGHI,W, WHEAT ANTD BARLEY 4I Table2. Evaptranspiratin(ET)andwater-useefficiencyfrwhle-plantandgrainfsrghum,wheat,andbarley grwn at Lethbridge, 19'76 and 1911 ET (mm/day) Date Pl30 srghum Neepawa wheat Galt barley 5 May-9 June l0-22 June 23 June-6 July 7-20 July 21 July-3 Aug Aug. l8-31 Aug. I -27 Sept. Ttal (mm) Whle-plant efficiency (kg/ha/mm) Grain efficiency (kg/haimm) 9-22 lune 23 June-6 July 7-20 July 21 July-5 Aug Aug Aug Sept. Ttal (mm) Whle-plant efficiency (kg/ha/mm) Grain efficiency (kg/ha/mm) l I1.8 1.O r.68 2.O l.' 'l the kernels. Translcatin has been bserved previusly fr srghum (Gibsn and Schertz 1977). Translcatin was nt apparent in this study fr wheat r barley (Fig. 1). Thrne (1965) cncluded that there was n mbilizatin and translcatin f carbhydrates fr kernel grwth f wheat r barley, that carbhydrates came frm current phtsynthesis, and that all new phtsynthate was translcated t the kernels. In this study, wheat and barley appeared t reach maximum leaf and stem weight and then all dry matter prductin must have been diverted t kernel grwth, as suggested by Thrne ( 1965). Althugh the calculated grain grwth rate f wheat was higher than the whle-plant grwth rate in 191'7, the tw grwth rates were calculated ver different times ( l5 June- l5 Aug. fr whle-plant and 15 July-l5 Aug. fr grain). The results presented in Fig. 1 suggest that in wheat, ,,_t l '76 'ju l Jl zl ).zj nal there was n evidence that kernel grwth was at the expense f ther tissues. The whle-plant and grain yields and grwth rates btained in this study shwed that srghum is similar t wheat r barley, the tw mst imprtant dryland crps in suthern Alberta. The mst bvius difference amng the three crps was the lng lag in srghum between seeding and the nset f rapid dry matter accumulatin. In spite f this, hwever, the EWPD and EFPD did nt differ greatly amng the three crps. The EFPD values btained in this study were nt unlike thse reprted by Daynard et al. (191 l) fr crn, but the EWPD values were higher than the crp duratin values reprted by Hbbs and Krgman (1974) fr wheat, ats, and barley. Hwever, their values f I 17 days and 99 days fr wheat and barley were frm planting t maturity, which was similar t the crp duratin f wheat and

6 42 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PLANT SCIENCE barley in this study. The average EWPD values were 67 and 50 days fr wheat and barley, 50 days shrter than the time frm planting t maturity. Of these 50 days, there were abut 40 days between planting and the nset f rapid dry matter accumulatin, and abut 10 days between the time when maximum kernel dry weight had been reached and when maturity was recrded. Srghum water-use efficiency fr grain prductin was nly slightly greater than that f barley, which, in turn, was greater than that f wheat \n 1917, but differences were small in The difference may simply be due t the fact that srghum was able t make use f the rainfall received in August 191'/, whereas wheat and barley were very clse t maturity. Efficiency f all three species was higher in 19'/'7 than\n and this may have been related t the lwer cnsumptin, since Blum and Naveh (1916) fund that as interplant cmpetitin increased and plant water availability decreased, srghum became mre efficient in its use f water. On the ther hand, Brwn and Shrader (1959) fund that water-use efficiency increased as stred sil misture increased. In their study, hwever, misture stress may have been greater during the seed-filling perid since the evapratin demand in Kansas is much greater than in Lethbridge. Cnsumptive use f water has been reprted t be related t crp duratin (Pjhakas et al. 1961) and this was the case in this study in 1916, and fr srghum and barley in Hwever, water use by wheat was very lw in 197'7 cmpared t its lng EWPD f 72 days. Stut and Simpsn (1978) fund that srghum avided drught by decreasing the leaf smtic pt_ential and by leaf senescence. In this stidv. 307 f the leaves f srghum senesced after the beginning f August in the wetter year f 1976 cmpared t 557 in Leaf senescence fr wheat was 37 and 507 and fr barley was 52 and 487 in 1976 and 1977, respectively. This avidance mechanism was, therefre, apparent in srghum and wheat but nt in barley, because it had the same percentage each year. This study revealed that srghum has an EWPD and an EFPD the same length as, r nly slightly lnger than, thse f wheat r barley but has similar grwth rates and therefre has the ptential t prduce yields equal t barley r wheat. In additin, srghum has water-use efficiency similar t wheat r barley. The primary disadvantage f srghum is the lng lag perid in the spring befre rapid grwth begins, but despite this, it still appears t have sufficient merit t justify its incrpratin as an alternate cash crp in the dryland agriculture f suthern Alberta. BEADLE, C. L., STEVENSON, K. R., NEUMANN. H. H., THURTELL, G. W. and KING, K. M. I9'73. Diffusive resistance, transpiratin and phtsynthesis in single leaves f crn and srghum in relatin t leaf water ptential. Can. J. Plant Sci. 53: BLUM, A. and NAVEH, M ImPrved water-use efficiency in dryland grain srghum by prmted plant cmpetitin. Agrn. J. 68: BROWN. P. L. and SHRADER, W. D Grain yields, evaptranspiratin, and water use efficiency f grain srghum under different cultural practices. Agrn. J. 51: DAYNARD, T. B., TANNER, J. W. and DUNCAN,W. G. 19'71. Duratin f the grain filling perid and its relatin t grain yield in cm,zeamaysl. Crp Sci. 11: GIBSON. P. T. and SCHERTZ, K. F. 19'77 Grwth analysis f a srghum hybrid and its parents. Crp Sci. 17: GRIMES, D. W. and MUSICK, J. T Effect f plant spacing, fertility, and irrigatin managements n grain srghum prductin. Agrn. J. 52:64'l-650. HEGDE. B. R., MAJOR, D. J., WISON, D. B. and KROGMAN. K. K Effects f rw spacing and ppulatin density n grain srghum prductin in suthern Alberta. Can. J. Plant Sci. 56: 31-3'l. HOBBS. E. H. and KROGMAN, K. K Evaptranspiratin f wheat, ats, and barley. Can. J. Plant Sci. 54:23-2'7. KEBEDE, Y Grwth and Yield f

7 MAJOR AND HAMMAN - COMPARISON OF SORGHUM. WHEAT AND BARLEY +-'\ early-maturing grain srghum hybrids. M.Sc. Thesis, Univ. f Guelph, Guelph, Ont. MAJOR, D. I. 1977a. Analysis f grwth f irrigated rape. Can. J. Plant Sci. 57: MAJOR, D. J. 197'lb. Seasnal dry-weight distributin f single-stalked and multi-tillered cm hybrids grwn at three ppulatin densities in suthem Alberta. Can. J. Plant Sci. 57: '7. MAJOR, D. J., PELTON, W. L., SHAYKEWICH, C. F., GAGE, S. H. ANd GREEN, D. G Heat units fr crn in the Prairies. Agric. Can., Canadex OLSON, T. C Yield and water use by different ppulatins f dryland crn, grain srghum, and frage srghum in the western crn belt. Agrn. J.63: POJHAKAS, K., READ, D,, PELTON, W. L. and KORVEN,H. C Cnsumptive use f water by crps at Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Can. J. Sil Sci. 47: PORTER, K. B., JENSEN, M. E. ANd SLETTEN, W. H The effect f rw spacing, fertilizer, and planting rate n the yield and water use f irrigated grain srghum. Agrn. J. 52: SANCHEZ-DIAZ, M. F. and KRAMER, P. J Behaviur f crn and srghum under water stress and during recvery. Plant Physil. 48: SEPASKHAH, A. R Time and frequency f irrigatin in relatin t grwth stages f barley. Agrn. J. 7O: SINGH, R. P. and RAMAKRISHNA, U. S Yield and misture utilizatin patterns f dryland crps grwn n cnserved sil misture. Ann. Arid Zne 16 25' STOUT, D. G. and SIMPSON, G. M Drught resistance f Srghum biclr. I. Drught avidance mechanisms related t leaf water status. Can. J. Plant Sci. 58l THILL, D. C., WITTERS, R.. E. and PAPEN- DICK, R. I Interactins f early- and late-planted winter wheat with their envirnment. Agrn. J. 70: 104l THORNE, G. N Phtsynthesis f ears and flag leaves f wheat and barley. Ann. Bt. N.S. 29:

8 This article has been cited by: 1. D.J. Majr, B.L. Blad, A. Bauer, J.L. Hatfield, K.G. Hubbard, E.T. Kanemasu, R.J. Reginat Seasnal patterns f winter wheat phytmass as affected by water and nitrgen n the nrth american great plains. Agricultural and Frest Meterlgy 44:2, [Crssref] 2. D.G. Majr, G.B. Schaalje, G. Asrar, E.T. Kanemasu Estimatin f Whle-Plant Bimass and Grain Yield frm Spectral Reflectance f Cereals. Canadian Jurnal f Remte Sensing 12:1, [Crssref] 3. R.D. Reichert, B.D. Omah, D.J. Schwab Milling Characteristics f Grup I (lw tannin) Srghum Varieties. Canadian Institute f Fd Science and Technlgy Jurnal 17:3, [Crssref] 4. R.B. Stewart, J. Dumanski, D.F. Actn Prductin ptential fr spring wheat in the Canadian prairie prvinces An estimate. Agriculture, Ecsystems & Envirnment 11:1, [Crssref]