evaluation of different forage sorghum cultivars [sorghum bicolor (l.) moench] through an assessment of morphological, quantitative & qualitative yield traits

eight forage sorghum cultivars (sweet jumbo, nectar, chopper, pacific bmr, speed feed, kfs1, kfs2 and kfs3) were assessed to determine the most suitable traits carrying cultivar, through a randomized complete block design with four replications during 2003-2005. ammonium phosphate (basd on p2o5) was applied at 115 kg/ha and 183 kg/ha of nitrogen (urea-based) at four application times. six traits, namely green fodder, dry matter, protein yield, plant hieght, stem diameter and tiller number were assessed for each cut. harvesting was conducted from a 7.8 m2 area. three years’ data were analysed in a combined analysis and the means compared through duncan multi rang test (dmrt). combined analysis of variance showed significant differences among cultivars, years, and cultivar × year interactions. a comparsion of means indicated that, nectar and chopper cvs. produced the highest vs. the lowest green fodder of 186.8 and 137.2 t/ha, respectively. they did not significantly differe from some other cultivars. as for dry matter yield, the cultivars sweet jumbo, nectar, kfs3 and kfs2 with mean yields of 39.21, 39.11, 37.54 & 37.41 t/ha, respectively ranked the top. sweet jumbo produced the highest tiller number per plant (3.69) while nectar yielded the highest protein (3.14 t/ha). the highest plant height (224.2 cm) and stem diameter (17.99 mm) belonged to speed feed and kfs2, respectively. among the cultivars, chopper produced the lowest dry matter (32.95 t/ha), protein yield (2.62 t/ha), plant height (181.7 cm) and tiller number per plant (2.11), however the lowest stem diameter (12.33 mm), belonged to speed feed.