Latest Sorghum Stories
AgriLife Research and seed companies working on solutionApply today's chemicals to a sorghum crop for grass control and the sorghum will be killed off also. But a solution could be only a few years away if Texas AgriLife Research plots are any indication.Dr. Brent Bean, AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service agronomist, has test plots that demonstrate sorghum hybrids tolerant to herbicides typically associated with grass control.The control is needed not only for annual grass...
WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Banning the agricultural herbicide atrazine would cost between 21,000 and 48,000 jobs from corn production losses alone, according to University of Chicago economist Don L. Coursey, Ph.D. Dr. Coursey announced his findings at a briefing sponsored by the Triazine Network today at the National Press Club in Washington. Coursey estimates atrazine's annual production value to corn alone to be between $2.3 billion and $5 billion. Atrazine's additional value...
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. announced today that it has developed a plant trait that could bring new life to millions of acres of abandoned or marginal cropland damaged by salts. Results in several crops, including switchgrass, have shown levels of salt tolerance not seen before. Ceres reported that its researchers tested the effects of very high salt concentrations and also seawater from the Pacific Ocean, which contains mixtures of...
By unlocking the genetic secrets of sorghum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to make one of the world's most important cereal crops a better option for growers. Researchers at the ARS Natural Products Utilization Unit in Oxford, Miss. also may have opened a door to reducing pesticide use in the production of other crops.Sorghum secretes a compound known as sorgoleone that is instrumental in helping the plant combat weeds. But in a way it does its job too well....
As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) works toward developing sustainable sources of clean renewable energy, perennial grasses have emerged as major candidates for the commercial production of cellulosic biofuels from feedstocks. However, little is known about the specific biological traits of the grasses that might contribute to their usefulness for energy production, in part because such grasses typically have long lifecycles and possess large, complex genomes, making them difficult to...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- A broad coalition of agriculture groups representing the Triazine Network have written to Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in defense of the herbicide atrazine, which has become the target of a coordinated attack by environmental groups seeking to eliminate its use. See copy of the letter to the EPA and listen to audio file of nationwide teleconference here: http://www.ksgrains.com/corn . Atrazine, a critical tool in...
University of Calgary archaeologist unearths earliest evidence of modern humans using wild grains and tubers for foodThe consumption of wild cereals among prehistoric hunters and gatherers appears to be far more ancient than previously thought, according to a University of Calgary archaeologist who has found the oldest example of extensive reliance on cereal and root staples in the diet of early Homo sapiens more than 100,000 years ago.Julio Mercader, holder of the Canada Research Chair in...
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Purdue University professor, whose research was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), received the 2009 World Food Prize Oct. 15 for his concerted effort in the development of drought and parasitic weed resistant varieties of sorghum which has increased the food supply to millions in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2009 World Food Prize was awarded to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta for developing sorghum plant hybrids that yield three to...
Study explores how farmers' practice affects role of gene flow between cultivated sorghum and its weedy relativesFamily can be a blessing and a curse, and never more so than in the case of crop plants and their wild relatives. These wild and weedy relatives harbor unique and beneficial genes that may no longer be found in their cultivated siblings, but they also harbor genetic traits that farmers have intentionally selected against in their domesticated brethren. The close genetic...
Varieties of drought-resistant, fast-growing sorghum are being studied in Maryland as a renewable source of fuel, scientists at Salisbury University said. The eight varieties of sweet sorghum are attractive because they require little water, mature quickly and have low nutrient and fertilization requirements, researchers from the university and Solar Fruits Bio Fuels said in a release Friday. Producing ethanol from sorghum costs less and is more energy efficient than making ethanol from...
