UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 291 $ 



J^^^j-u 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



SV&'*T*J°U 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER. 



January 25, 1916 



BREEDING MILLET AND SORGO FOR DROUGHT ADAPTATION. 



By A. C. Dillman, Physiologist, Office of Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant 



Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



The place of millet and sorgo in the agricul- 

 ture of the Great Plains 1 



Adaptations to drought in millet and sorgo. . 2 



Climatic conditions 3 



Breeding millet for adaptation to drought ... 4 



Breeding sorgo for adaptation to drought 8 



Comparative yields of sorgo, millet, and other 

 annual forage crops in the central and 



northern Great Plains 12 



Water requirement of millet and sorgo 15 



Conclusions 18 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the course of investigations which have as their object the per- 

 fection of methods for testing the comparative drought resistance of 

 crop plants and for breeding drought-resistant varieties, two strains 

 of millet and one of sorgo have been developed. These strains give 

 evidence of being more uniform, more productive, and better adapted 

 to the climatic conditions of the north-central Great Plains than the 

 varieties generally grown in that region. The object of the present 

 publication is to point out those characteristics of the new strains 

 which indicate their value to dry-land agriculture in the Great Plains 

 region. 1 



THE PLACE OF MILLET AND SORGO IN THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



GREAT PLAINS. 



It is becoming more and more evident that successful farming in 

 the Great Plains must include the raising of live stock. The estab- 



i By cooperative arrangement with the Office of Forage-Crop Investigations these strains will be tested 

 at numerous dry-land stations in comparison with other varieties of the same crops, in order that their 

 relative merit and range of geographical adaptation may be fully ascertained. It seems desirable, however, 

 to publish an account of them at this time, since they give every indication of being superior to the ordinary 

 commercial varieties of sorgo and millet which are now grown in the northern portion of the Great Plains 

 area. 



The earlier results of these investigations have been reported in a previous publication, which also 

 gives fuller details of the plant-breeding methods. See Dillman, A. C, Breeding drought-resistant forage 

 plants for the Great Plains area, U. S. Dept Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 196, 1910. 



14648°— Bull. 291—16 1 



