Abstract

The United States accounts for 24% of the global sorghum production, producing 15 Mt annually. At the global scale, the United States is one of the top five worldwide sorghum producers, which also include Nigeria, India, Ethiopia, and Argentina. The Great Plains region is the most important US sorghum-producing area, accounting for 75% of the production. In the last century, a continuous positive sorghum yield improvement was documented but not at same rate as that for other cereals such as maize. Therefore, efforts dedicated to germplasm improvement, hybrid selection, and agronomic practices are needed for reducing yield barriers. Closing sorghum yield gaps (potential minus actual yields) can be approached by improving the understanding of the complexity of the genotype × environment × management (G×E×M) interactions. Information on the best crop production practices for improving yields in modern hybrids is limited. A summary is needed of regional data on sorghum yield interaction with crop production practices such as planting date, seeding depth, hybrid selection, row spacing, plant density, N dynamics, and crop rotation, among other factors. This chapter describes the best management practices for improving grain sorghum yields under diverse environments across the US sorghum-producing areas. Major factors affecting grain sorghum yields and a review-analysis on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is also discussed.

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