Optimising sorghum production in variable climates

Summary

Australia’s climate has warmed by about 1.4 °C since 1910, leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat and water stress. As such, there is a need to explore innovative approaches to reduce the risks to summer crop options for growers.

Since 2018, the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC), University of Queensland (UQ), NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (DAF) have partnered in a research program to test the boundaries of the sorghum (Figure 1) planting window. This has involved sowing earlier than usual, and measuring the effects on plant establishment, crop development, grain yield and quality in the GRDC Optimising Sorghum Agronomy project (UOQ 1808-001RTX).

Under this project, the research team focused on answering the following questions:

Can farmers avoid heat stresses around flowering by planting sorghum earlier e.g. in late winter?
How do cold soils affect crop establishment?
Are there differences in cold tolerance between hybrids?
Does planting sorghum into cold soils affect root growth, soil water use and water use efficiency (WUE)?
What are the effects on grain yield and quality?
What are the implications of early sowing at the cropping system level?