In case you didn’t know I want to emphasize that Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension have an extensive variety testing program for corn, cotton, sorghum, peanuts, wheat, sunflower, soybean, silage, forages, rice, oilseeds, and more than I can count!
The trials are conducted in farmer fields and on Texas A&M AgriLife Research Stations across the state with companies that want to see how their varieties perform in multiple locations. Here is a YouTube video showing the process.
Recently Katrina Horn with Variety Testing sent out the pdf files for 8 tests conducted from the Rio Grande Valley up to Central Texas including San Angelo. There are still three test sites to be harvested located in the South Plains and Panhandle, but still, we are getting great information to be able to think about next year’s planting season. Why is this important now for organic sorghum growers?
Many, many sorghum seed companies will set aside sorghum seed for organic growers that is not seed treated. Unfortunately, they will treat the rest of their seed inventory making it unavailable to organic growers because it is treated seed. I wish it was easier but at least we can get seed, in most cases, if we are just a little bit pushy with a seed dealer!
Since we still have some more test sites to add I probably should wait a month or two, but I think it is better to be thinking about sorghum now. Here is all the 8 tests we have results for as of now. Just click the button below.
Photo: Sorghum Partners R&D (https://sorghumpartners.com/rd/)
Okay, you have all the results which is a huge amount of information for each test site and for the varieties. Please take a look at all the information, you will be surprised. Now let me give you some summary information that might help you focus your thoughts.
| Company | Variety | Test Ranking (in the significant top) |
| DeKalb | DKS 44-07 | 1,1,3,4 |
| DeKalb | DKS 36-07 | 1,2,2 |
| Dyna-Gro | M62GB36 | 1,4,5,6 |
| DeKalb | DKS 43-76 | 4,6,9 |
| Integra (Wilbur Ellis) | G3665 | 2,3,4,8 (only planted in 6 tests!) |
| Sorghum Partners | SP65M60 | 1,2 |
| DeKalb | DKS 49-76 | 2,3,4 |
| DeKalb | DKS 43-76 | 4,6,9 |
As a note of explanation! I looked at all the tests (8) and looked at only the top varieties in the test by significance. What I mean is that these top varieties were statistically better than all the others in the test. If a variety was statistically better in more than one test, I put it on this list and gave you its ranking from the test where it was statically significant. So, all, except one variety, were in all 8 tests. Some varieties you may see in the overall results may rank high, but to make this list they need to rank in at least two tests and rank significantly! Clear as mud?
What I am hoping does come through is that these varieties seem to do well across locations and would be worth looking at for organic growers – if you can get untreated seed. That is the question?
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