Elephant grass is a tropical forage plant widely distributed throughout Brazil. It was first exclusively used in the livestock sector as cattle feed. The grass is characterized by its high productivity and photosynthetic capacity and is considered as an alternative source of renewable energy. Here, we estimated the general combining ability of the parents and specific combining ability of the h...

The concentrations of minerals in forages are important in satisfying animal requirements, but little attention has been given to determining these concentrations in forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.) breeding programs. In this 2-yr study, the objectives were to determine the contents, genetic variability, combining ability effects, and correlations for 12 mineral elements in 49 expe...

Brown midrib mutants have been isolated in maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) arising by either spontaneous or chemical mutagenesis. The characteristic brown coloration of the leaf mid veins is associated with reduced lignin content and altered lignin composition, traits useful to improve forage digestibility for livestock. Brown midrib phenotype i...

Polyphenolic structures are the putative cause of a variety of seed functions including bird/insect resistance and antioxidant activity. Structure-reactivity relationships are necessary to understand the influence of polyphenolic chromophore structures on the tannin content and free radical quenching ability determined by the traditional calorimetric methods. This study investigated the relatio...

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), also known as great millet, is one of the most popular cultivated grass species in the world. Sorghum is frequently consumed as food for humans and animals as well as used for ethanol production. In this study, we conducted de novo transcriptome assembly for sorghum variety Taejin by next-generation sequencing, obtaining 8.748 GB of raw data. The raw data in this stud...

In several crop species within the Triticeae tribe of the grass family Poaceae, single major aluminum (Al) tolerance genes have been identified that effectively mitigate Al toxicity, a major abiotic constraint to crop production on acidic soils. However, the trait is quantitatively inherited in species within other tribes, and the possible ancestral relationships between major Al tolerance gene...

In 2013, the sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a new invasive pest of sorghum species in North America, was confirmed on sorghum in 4 states and 38 counties in the United States. In 2015, the aphid was reported on sorghum in 17 states and over 400 counties as well as all sorghum-producing regions in Mexico. Ability to overwinter on living annual and perenni...

Lack of forage in the winter dry season is a concern for cattle production tropical Brazil. Pasture renovation with silage might solve an immediate and help develop improved pasture condition after cropping. The present study was focused to compare quality monocropped sorghum intercropped Marandu grass and/or pigeonpea two row spacings. experiment carried out on sandy Oxisol São Paulo state Bra...