The current study aims to characterise the complementary feeding practice and identify locally available climate-resilient crops that can be used for complementary feeding among agro-pastoralists in Ethiopia. A phenomenological study in Benna-Tsemay district, comprising focused group discussions, key informant interviews, and household observations, was conducted. A pretested guide was used to capture information regarding types of complementary food, lists of food items, and ingredients included in their complementary formulation. A thematic analysis for emerging points of discussion was carried out. Three major themes, including infant and young child feeding practices, food items included in complementary food, and their consumption frequencies, as well as the incorporation of climate-resilient crops into complementary foods as coping mechanisms, emerged. Breastfeeding was common and regarded as essential. Gruel and porridge from grains, roots, and tubers were regular parts of complementary foods in the study area. Moringa and sorghum were dominantly identified as climate-resilient crops regularly grown and used in complementary foods. Growing these crops was regarded as a coping strategy for drought and seasonal constraints. The district is one of the most drought-prone areas in Ethiopia, compromising the quality of complementary food. Unlike the World Health Organization recommendation, the grains, roots, and tubers-based diet formed the basis of complementary food lacking flesh foods, eggs, pulses, and other fruits and vegetables. Thus, it is recommended to improve complementary food quality through value-addition using locally accessible crops.

Wild oat is a long-standing weed problem in Australian grain cropping systems, potentially reducing the yield and quality of winter grain crops significantly. The effective management of wild oat requires an integrated approach comprising diverse control techniques that suit specific crops and cropping situations. This research aimed to construct and validate a bioeconomic model that enables the simulation and integration of weed control technologies for wild oat in grain production systems. The Avena spp. integrated management (AIM) model was developed with a simple interface to provide outputs of biological and economic data (crop yields, weed control costs, emerged weeds, weed seedbank, gross margins) on wild oat management data in a cropping rotation. Uniquely, AIM was validated against real-world data on wild oat management in a wheat and sorghum cropping rotation, where the model was able to reproduce the patterns of wild oat population changes as influenced by weed control and agronomic practices. Correlation coefficients for 12 comparison scenarios ranged between 0.55 and 0.96. With accurate parameterization, AIM is thus able to make useful predictions of the effectiveness of individual and integrated weed management tactics for wild oat control in grain cropping systems.

Sorghum plays a crucial role in the rural economy and nutrition of rural households in Mali. Yet the productivity of this crop is constrained by limited adoption of agricultural intensification technologies, which could be partly because technology development does not properly consider farmers' preferences. This study with smallholder farmers in southern Mali aimed to assess farmers' preferences for different attributes of sorghum technologies through the lens of sustainable intensification. The study used a discrete choice experiment, a method which involves asking individuals to state their preference over hypothetical alternative scenarios, goods or services. We considered six attributes corresponding to different domains of sustainable intensification: grain yield, risk of yield loss, soil fertility, nutrition, labor requirement and fodder yield. We analyzed the data using the mixed logit model, while considering the multinomial logit model as a robustness check. The findings revealed that smallholder farmers are strongly interested in transitioning from their existing sorghum-based cropping systems to those that closely align with these domains of sustainable intensification. However, there were diverse preferences among all the smallholder farmers studied, and between distinct sub-groups of smallholder farmers characterized by their social networks and agroecological zones, which yield relevant policy implications. Overall, these results support the growing research and development prioritization and policy interests toward scaling sustainable intensification among farmers, with a particular focus on human nutrition.

Dual-purpose sorghum response to anthracnose disease, growth, and yield was undertaken in Derashe and Arba Minch trial sites during March–June 2018 and 2019. Five sorghum varieties and Rara (local check) were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Variety Chelenko exhibited the tallest main crop plant height (430 cm) while Dishkara was the tallest (196.65 cm) at ratoon crop harvesting. Rara had a higher tiller number (main = 6.73, ratoon = 9.73) among the varieties. Dishkara and Chelenko varieties produced 50 and 10% more dry biomass yield (DBY) than the overall mean DBY, while Konoda produced 40% less. Although the anthracnose infestation was highest on the varieties Konoda (percentage severity index [PSI] = 20.37%) and NTJ_2 (PSI = 32.19%), they produced significantly (p < .001) higher grain yield (3.89 t/ha) than others. Under anthracnose pressure, Chelenko and Dishkara varieties are suggested for dry matter yield while NTJ_2 for grain yield production in the study area and similar agroecology.

Grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the major cereal crop used as staple crop in the arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia. Low sorghum yields are attributed to soil, climate and topographic factors. We investigated sorghum yield response to factorial combination of nitrogen and phosphorous (NP) as well as potassium (K), sulphur (S) and zinc (Zn), and how the position of farmers’ fields belonging to different landscape positions (i.e., upslope, mid-slope, and foot slope) could explain fertilizer response and yield variability. The analysis in this study made use of dataset from two sets of on-farm experiments where trials were set at two farmers’ fields for NPKS and three farmers’ fields for NPZn experiments in each landscape position. The experiments were implemented at two sorghum-growing locations (i.e., Hayk and Sirinka) in parts of the north-eastern Amhara region in Ethiopia. Sorghum yield response to fertilizer application was strongly linked to the spatial variation along landscape positions and varied over locations. Fertilizer response was significantly higher at foot slopes compared to mid-slopes and upslope positions, where fields at foot slopes exhibited relatively homogeneous responses. Application of combined nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers, landscape position and the interaction of fertilizer application and landscape positions strongly affected sorghum yield. There was a linear and significant increase in sorghum yield with the increase in the NP rates. The combined application of NP with different levels of KS as well as NP with Zn fertilizer rates did not result in significant yield difference. The results indicated that local factors were much more influential when accounting for the heterogeneity in sorghum yield response to fertilizer. This further acknowledges the importance of a landscape-based fertilizer management approach to respond yield potential variability related with the farmers’ fields and landscape environment. Further investigation is needed to develop homogeneous fertilizer response units based on spatial variability of soil and topographic attributes along the landscape.

Junglerice and feather fingergrass are major problematic weeds in the summer sorghum cropping areas of Australia. This study aimed to investigate the growth and seed production of junglerice and feather fingergrass in crop-free (fallow) conditions and under competition with sorghum planted in 50-cm and 100-cm row spacings at three sorghum planting and weed emergence timings. Results revealed that junglerice and feather fingergrass had greater biomass in early planting (November 11) compared to late planting times (January 11). Under fallow conditions, seed production of junglerice ranged from 12,380 to 20,280 seeds plant–1, with the highest seed production for the December 11 and lowest for the January 11 planting. Seed production of feather fingergrass under fallow conditions ranged from 90,030 to 143,180 seeds plant–1. Seed production of feather fingergrass under crop-free (fallow) conditions was similar for November 11 and December 11 planting times, but higher for the January 11 planting. Sorghum crop competition at both row spacings reduced the seed production of junglerice and feather fingergrass >75% compared to non-crop fallow. Narrow row spacing (50 cm) in early and mid-planted sorghum (November 11 and December 11) reduced the biomass of junglerice to a greater extent (88% to 92% over fallow-grown plants) compared to wider row spacing (100 cm). Narrow row spacing was found superior in reducing biomass of feather fingergrass compared to wider row spacing. Our results demonstrate that sorghum crops can substantially reduce biomass and seed production of junglerice and feather fingergrass through crop competition compared with growth in fallow conditions. Narrow row spacing (50 cm) was found superior to wider row spacing (100 cm) in terms of weed suppression. These results suggest that narrow row spacing and late planting time of sorghum crops can strengthen an integrated weed management program against these weeds by reducing weed growth and seed production.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important resource to the national economy and it is essential to assess the genetic diversity in existing sorghum germplasm for better conservation, utilization and crop improvement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of genetic diversity within and among sorghum germplasms collected from diverse institutes in Nigeria and Mali using Single Nucleotide Polymorphic markers. Genetic diversity among the germplasm was low with an average polymorphism information content value of 0.24. Analysis of Molecular Variation revealed 6% variation among germplasm and 94% within germplasms. Dendrogram revealed three groups of clustering which indicate variations within the germplasms. Private alleles identified in the sorghum accessions from National Center for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Ibadan, Nigeria and International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Kano, Nigeria shows their prospect for sorghum improvement and discovery of new agronomic traits. The presence of private alleles and genetic variation within the germplasms indicates that the accessions are valuable resources for future breeding programs.

A total of 432, one-day-old broiler chickens were randomly assigned as a 2 × 4 factorial design (pellet or mash and 0, 25, 50, and 75% whole sorghum levels) in a completely randomised experiment, having six replicates with nine birds per replicate. Body weight and feed intake were measured on a pen basis at 10, 25, and 35 days of age and feed conversion ratio calculated. Pelleting diets significantly improved (P<0.05) feed intake, body weight and carcass yield of broiler chickens at 10 and 24 days of age. Heavier relative gizzard weights with lower pH (P<0.05) were recorded for broiler chickens offered mash diets at 35 days old. Feed conversion ratio at 35 days of age increased (P<0.035, quadratic effect) with higher levels of whole sorghum and levelled off at 75% inclusion rates. Relative gizzard weight at 35 days was marginally increased (P<0.033, linear effect) in line with rising sorghum levels. Similarly, relative bursa and liver weights at 35 days increased (P<0.037, quadratic effect and P<0.033, linear effect, respectively) with sorghum inclusion. The results showed that pelleted diets gave superior performance compared to mash diets. Although higher levels of sorghum inclusion in mash diets enhanced gizzard development, performance parameters of birds at 35 days of age were poorer, with 125 g less body weight and an increase in FCR from 1.51 to 1.62 for the 0% and 75% sorghum levels respectively.

An area of a shrink-swell clay soil (Tunica clay, Vertic Haplaquept) with an established population of redvine, trumpetcreeper, honeyvine milkweed, redberry moonseed, and maypop passionflower was treated with dicamba once in the fall of 1983. The effect on perennial vines was determined for the following 4 yr in three rotational cropping systems involving winter wheat, soybean, corn, and sorghum, all with and without irrigation. Dicamba reduced the population of perennial vines 80% over 4 yr. Redvine and trumpetcreeper, the first and second most abundant species, were reduced by over 83 and 76%, respectively. Yield of soybean increased 17% in 1985 and 1987 while corn yield increased 9% in 1986 with dicamba use. In 1984 no effects on crop yield were measured. This inconsistent crop yield reponse after dicamba treatment, even though perennial vines were suppressed, must be considered in evaluating the economics of using dicamba for perennial vine control.

Atrazine [2-chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-isopropylamino)-s-triazine] carryover under reduced or no-till row crop production systems was measured by planting oats (Avena sativa L.) the following year as a field bioassay during 1970 through 1976 at Lincoln and North Platte, Nebraska. Oat yields indicate that soil persistence of normal-use rates of atrazine into the subsequent year is only a minor residue problem under reduced tillage cropping systems. Atrazine carryover in soil was less of a problem under these reduced tillage systems as compared with prior experiments with conventional tillage systems across Nebraska.

Absorption and translocation of the methyl ester of haloxyfop (haloxyfop-methyl) in sorghum were reduced by presence of bentazon in the treatment emulsion. After 6 h, 18% of applied haloxyfop-methyl was recovered from the leaf surface in the absence of bentazon, compared to 43% of that applied in combination with bentazon. An average of 18% of applied haloxyfop-methyl was recovered as haloxyfop + haloxyfop-methyl from leaf tissues outside the treated zone in the absence of bentazon, compared to 8% of that applied in combination with bentazon. Haloxyfop-methyl absorption was similar whether applied with or without formulations of imazaquin or chlorimuron. However, the addition of imazaquin or chlorimuron to treatment emulsions decreased the translocation of haloxyfop + haloxyfop-methyl as only 13 and 12%, respectively, of the total amount of haloxyfop-methyl applied was translocated out of the treated zone. Mixtures of all herbicides were chemically stable; formulations of bentazon, imazaquin, or chlorimuron did not alter the ester or free acid levels of haloxyfop in an aqueous mixture over an 8-h period.

A long-term study was established to determine the effects of rate, application method, and repeated applications of norflurazon on soil persistence and plant injury for sorghum, corn, and wheat. Preplant incorporated (PPI) and preemergence (PE) applications of norflurazon at 1.1 (1X) and 2.2 kg ai/ha (2X) initially were applied in 1981. Subplots were retreated in 1982 and 1983. Rotational crops were planted each year from 1982 to 1987. Evaluations taken in 1982 (14 months after initial treatment) showed slight injury to wheat, sorghum, and corn from 1X applications and significant injury from 2X applications. Evaluations 1 to 3 yr after final application indicated that repeated applications, even at the 1X rate, increased norflurazon residues and rotational crop injury. At both 1X and 2X rates, PPI treatments increased norflurazon persistence compared to PE applications.

Redroot pigweed is a common weed in sorghum fields throughout the southcentral United States including Kansas. In 1994 and 1995, field studies were conducted at two sites near Manhattan, KS, to determine the influence of redroot pigweed densities and times of emergence on sorghum yield and yield components. Redroot pigweed was sown at densities of 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 12 plants meter−1 of row within a 25-cm band over the sorghum row at planting and at the three- to four-leaf stage of sorghum. A rectangular hyperbola was used to describe the relationship between crop yield loss and weed density. Because of the instability of both coefficients I (percentage yield loss at low weed density) and A (percentage yield loss at high weed density), our results do not support the use of a model based exclusively on weed number to estimate sorghum yield loss across all locations within a region. A quadratic polynomial equation that accounts for the time of weed emergence relative to the crop growth stage is suggested as an alternative method to estimate sorghum yield loss. At the densities studied, the time of pigweed emergence relative to the sorghum leaf stage was critical for the outcome of sorghum-pigweed competition. Significant sorghum yield losses occurred only when pigweed emerged before the 5.5-leaf stage of sorghum. An examination of yield components suggested that the yield loss was a result of a reduction in number of seeds per head.

Field experiments were conducted with the recirculating sprayer (RCS) at Lincoln, Nebraska from 1974 through 1978. Different spray pressures, spray nozzles, and spray volumes with the RCS showed no significant differences in shattercane [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] control or soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] injury when herbicides were applied at three stages of weed growth. When shattercane was treated in a grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] field, poor weed control and excessive crop injury occurred during treatment at the early growth stage as compared with treatments applied 2 weeks later. The final treatment date gave selective weed control in grain sorghum, but many of the shattercane heads had already developed viable seed. A weed-to-crop height differential of at least 45 cm resulted in maximum weed control with minimum crop injury. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) control in soybeans varied considerably, but treatments giving over 80% control were glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] at 1.1 to 4.5 kg/ha applied through the RCS. Other herbicides were less effective. Volunteer corn (Zea mays L.) was controlled selectively at 75 to 100% in soybeans with glyphosate or paraquat (1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium ion) when applied through the RCS. Shattercane was controlled 95 to 100% in soybeans with glyphosate at 3.4 kg/ha. Unless spray drift and splash can be prevented when using the RCS, glyphosate and paraquat will not give selective control when applied to weeds growing in grain sorghum. Glyphosate applied through the RCS, however, can be a selective method of controlling weed escapes in soybeans because soybeans are not as sensitive to glyphosate as is sorghum.

CGA-43089 [α-(cyanomethoximino)-benzacetonitrile] applied as a seed treatment enables sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] to tolerate metolachlor [2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-1-methylethyl)acetamide]. Improved tolerance of alexandergrass [Brachiaria plantaginea, (Link) A. Hitchc.] Eleusine spp., proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and rice (Oryza sativa L.) to metolachlor also was demonstrated. Seven sorghum cultivars, representing widely divergent types of germplasm, responded similarly to the safening effect of CGA-43089 when the cultivars were exposed to metolachlor. Treated sorghum seed may be stored more than 1 yr without a loss of safening activity. In these growth chamber experiments, neither extremes of soil moisture nor temperature reduced the effectiveness of the safener. The predominant site of uptake of CGA-43089 is the coleoptile of sorghum seedlings.

Corn and soyabean micronutrient-fortified-blended foods (FBF) are commonly used for food aid. Sorghum and cowpeas have been suggested as alternative commodities because they are drought tolerant, can be grown in many localities, and are not genetically modified. Change in formulation of blends may improve protein quality, vitamin A and Fe availability of FBF. The primary objective of this study was to compare protein efficiency, Fe and vitamin A availability of newly formulated extruded sorghum-, cowpea-, soya- and corn-based FBF, along with a current, non-extruded United States Agency for International Development (USAID) corn and soya blend FBF (CSB+). A second objective was to compare protein efficiency of whey protein concentrate (WPC) and soya protein isolate (SPI) containing FBF to determine whether WPC inclusion improved outcomes. Eight groups of growing rats (n 10) consumed two white and one red sorghum–cowpea (WSC1 + WPC, WSC2 + WPC, RSC + WPC), white sorghum–soya (WSS + WPC) and corn–soya (CSB14 + WPC) extruded WPC-containing FBF, an extruded white sorghum–cowpea with SPI (WSC1 + SPI), non-extruded CSB+, and American Institute of Nutrition (AIN)-93G, a weanling rat diet, for 4 weeks. There were no significant differences in protein efficiency, Fe or vitamin A outcomes between WPC FBF groups. The CSB+ group consumed significantly less food, gained significantly less weight, and had significantly lower energy efficiency, protein efficiency and length, compared with all other groups. Compared with WSC1 + WPC, the WSC1 + SPI FBF group had significantly lower energy efficiency, protein efficiency and weight gain. These results suggest that a variety of commodities can be used in the formulation of FBF, and that newly formulated extruded FBF are of better nutritional quality than non-extruded CSB+.

Flaxleaf fleabane is a difficult-to-control weed in dryland minimum tillage farming systems in the northeast grains region of Australia. Experiments were conducted between 2003 and 2005 to identify effective control strategies on flaxleaf fleabane in wheat and sorghum. A preplant application of chlorsulfuron at 15 g ai/ha in wheat controlled flaxleaf fleabane ≥ 90%. The efficacy of early postemergent applications of metsulfuron–methyl at 4.2 g ai/ha varied between years. However, the flaxleaf fleabane was controlled > 85% with metsulfuron–methyl at 4.2 g ai/ha plus MCPA at 420 g ae/ha plus picloram at 26 g ae/ha, or metsulfuron–methyl followed by late postemergent 2,4-D amine at 300 g ae/ha. In sorghum, a preplant application of glyphosate at 900 g ae/ha plus 2,4-D amine at 900 g ae/ha or dicamba at 500 g ae/ha at 1 mo before sorghum planting provided ≥ 95% control. Preplant atrazine at 2,000 g ai/ha controlled flaxleaf fleabane 83 to 100% in sorghum. At-planting atrazine at 2,000 or 1,000 g ai/ha can be applied to control new emergence of flaxleaf fleabane and grasses, depending on the weed pressure and spectrum. Flaxleaf fleabane reduced sorghum yield 65 to 98% if not controlled.

Dwarf sorghum (C4) was grown at ambient and at projected levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (250 mol mol−1 above ambient) with and without the presence of a C3 weed (velvetleaf) and a C4 weed (redroot pigweed), to quantify the potential effect of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration [CO2] on weed–crop interactions and potential crop loss. In a weed-free environment, increased [CO2] resulted in a significant increase in leaf weight and leaf area of sorghum but no significant effect on seed yield or total aboveground biomass relative to the ambient CO2 condition. At ambient [CO2] the presence of velvetleaf had no significant effect on either sorghum seed yield or total aboveground biomass; however, at elevated [CO2], yield and biomass losses were significant. The additional loss in sorghum yield and biomass was associated with a significant (threefold) increase in velvetleaf biomass in response to increasing [CO2]. Redroot pigweed at ambient [CO2] resulted in significant losses in total aboveground biomass of sorghum but not in seed yield. However, as [CO2] increased, significant losses in both sorghum seed yield and total biomass were observed for sorghum–redroot pigweed competition. Increased [CO2] was not associated with a significant increase in redroot pigweed biomass (P = 0.17). These results indicate potentially greater yield loss in a widely grown C4 crop from weedy competition as atmospheric [CO2] increases.

Grain supply is the joint effect of both area and yield; however, research often targets either one or the other. The research presented here estimates the complete supply elasticity of grains using novel approaches to approximate producers’ price and weather expectations on both yield and acres planted. The results from this approach combining acreage and yield show the negative impact of expanded production on average yields and the supply response. Additionally, the research extends previous methods of approximating producers’ price expectations through the use of historical basis prices.

A study was carried out between 2008 and 2011 to investigate the potential risks of gene flow and its consequences in the crop–wild–weed S. bicolor complex in Ethiopia to aid efforts to conserve genetic diversity. Morphological measurements and genomic DNA samples were taken in situ from 30 wild and eight cultivated populations representing a total of 760 samples from five regions. Genetic diversity, gene flow, population structure and outcrossing rates of wild populations were computed using phenotypic measurements and/or polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Moreover, morphological analyses of fitness of crop–wild hybrids were studied. High diversity was observed among the wild/weedy sorghum populations for phenotypic traits and SSRs. SSR diversity was high in both wild and cultivated populations, but the magnitude was greater in the former. Gene flow between the wild and the cultivated sorghum was observed to be higher than that within either pool. Wild sorghums exhibited variation in the multilocus outcrossing rate (range = 0.31–0.65) and fitness was not compromised in most wild × crop hybrids. The study indicated that crop-to-wild gene flow is possible in Ethiopia. Thus, genes from transgenic sorghum are expected to enter into the wild and non-transgenic cultivated populations and may spread and persist, if transgenic sorghum is deployed in Ethiopia and in other countries of Africa, which may pose risk of introduction of unwanted effects, which in turn may lead to loss of genetic diversity.