FAISALABAD SORGHUM; MULTICUT, HIGH YIELDING AND NUTRITIOUS LINE TO OVERCOME FODDER SCARCITY IN PAKISTAN

One of the breeding objectives of the time is the development/screening of resilient germplasm, which could satisfy hunger demand. The animal feed and food are the prime concern of time and the existing Pakistan germplasm needs to be updated for green fodder yield and quality traits. Hence, present study aimed to develop agronomic itinerary of the available breeding line and screen out best suited candidate lines. ‘Faisalabad Sorghum’ first-ever locally developed public sector multicut variety with higher proficiency than first public sorghum sudangrass hybrid (Pak Sudex). This novel variety is a result of hybridization between Australian No. 7 and Sudan Grass followed by back cross breeding method. Faisalabad Sorghum out yielded (Av 133.30t/ha) in station (2016 and 2017), zonal (2018) and national uniform fodder yield trials (2019 and 2020) when compared with check variety. The palatability of Faisalabad Sorghum was more than 80%, with reduced enteric CH4 and CO2 emissions by 14% in cattles. The adaptive features of this line are high yielder, resistant to specific pests (borer, shoot fly) and diseases (leaf spot and long smut) that were evaluated, highly nutritious with lower production cost. This line has remarkable energy to minimize the supply and demand gap among summer fodder varieties. The by-products of it could be utilized as an alternative energy sources. Owing to such extraordinary attributes the new line AK-113 proposed as Faisalabad Sorghum was released for general adaptation among farmers during 2021