BAGASSE YIELDS AND SILAGE QUALITIES FROM BAGASSE OF SOME SWEET SORGHUM GENOTYPES UNDER ADANA CONDITIONS

Abstract

The research was carried out with to determine bagasse yields and silage qualities from bagasse of some genotypes of sweet sorghum. Experiment materials consisted of twenty one sweet sorghum lines and varieties obtained from various sources. The field experiment was conducted according to randomized complete block design with four replications in the research area of Eastern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute (Adana, Turkey 36°51' 35'' K and 35° 20' 43'' D) during the second crop season in 2016 and 2017. Each genotype was sown in 4 rows with 5 m length and 0.7 m apart. Plants were harvested at different dates between milk and dough stages according to genotypes. The stems which were removed from leaves and panicles were squeezed in the machine and the remaining sap-extracted plants (bagasse) were silaged and investigated in terms of silage quality properties. According to the two years averaged values, bagasse yield, dry matter yield, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), relative feed value (RFV), lactic acid and potassium value were ranged from 42.6 to 113.9 t ha-1, 11.6 to 40.0 t ha-1, 29.79 to 50.84 g kg DM, 525.1 to 694.8 g kg DM, 351.2 to 486.8 g kg DM, 68.7 to 109.5, 21.8 to 46.44 g kg KM, and 1.103 to1.579 %, respectively. From the results of the study, it was concluded that bagasse of sweet sorghum grown for the bioethanol prodution as second crop under Adana conditons could be an alternative resource of silage for the high quality roughage production.