Determination of Mineral Contents of Sorghum (Sorghum sp.) and Corn (Zea mays L.) Varieties Grown for Roughage

Abstract

In this research, it was aimed to determine some mineral contents of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense Staph.), Sorghum x sudangrass hybrid (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum sudanense Stapf) and corn (Zea mays L.) cultivars grown as the second crop. Field experiments of the study was conducted under the ecological conditions of Siirt province in the Southeastern region of Turkey between 2016 and 2017. The plant material of the study consisted of two sorghum varieties (Master BMR and Rox), one sudangrass variety (Gozde-80), three sorghum x sudangrass hybrid (Forage King, Sugar Graze-II and Greengo) and three corn varieties (OSSK-644, Samada-07 and DKC6101). In the study, field trials were established with three replications according to randomized complete blocks experiment design. Phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) analyzes were performed on the cultivars. According to the averages of two years of research, it was determined that P, K, Ca, Mg, Ca/P and K/Ca+Mg ratios of dry feed obtained from sorghum and corn varieties varied between 0.25-0.30%, 1.31-2.20%, 0.61-0.81%, 0.210-0.262%, 2.26-2.88, and 1.25-2.54 respectively. Sorghum and corn varieties were sufficient to meet the needs of animals in terms of forage K content; however, P, Ca and Mg ratios were below the limit values that should be in feed rations. Keywords: Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sorghum bicolor L., Zea mays L. DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/5-12-24