Comparison of Yield and Silage Quality of some Sorghum Bicolor L. Cultivars and Corn under Salinity Stress

Sorghum is an excellent alternative forage to corn silage in unfavorable environmental conditions. In order to evaluate eight sorghum cultivars and one corn cultivar (S.C 704 as control) under salinity stress (EC: 10.8 ds/m in soil and 5 ds/m in water), a randomized complete block design with three replicates was used during 2017-2018 cropping season at Fajr Isfahan Agricultural and Livestock CO. research field. Seven morphological traits, forage yield, and dry matter (DM) were determined and 15 traits related to silage were measured after ensiling in a plastic cylinder. The results showed that the Hannibal and Pegah cultivars had the highest forage yield with an average yield of 56.9 and 53.4 tons/h, respectively, whereas corn had the lowest forage yield with an average of 20.5 tons/h under test conditions. Hannibal and Sucrose Photo one BMR cultivars had the highest DM with 26.7% and 26.6%, respectively. Corn silage had the highest amount of crude protein, non-fibrous carbohydrates, total digestible nutrients, digestible energy, metabolizable energy, net energy lactation, crude fat, and the lowest amount of ash, acidity, the insoluble fiber in acid detergent and insoluble fiber in neutral detergent. This is followed by Pegah cultivar with a slight difference. It seems that the Pegah cultivar due to higher fodder yield, same silage quality as corn, more tolerance to drought, salinity, and heat than corn, and considerably less water requirement is a suitable alternative for corn in many salinity and water-scarce regions of Iran.