Sorghum - icrisat

ainy-season variety with moderate juicy stalks. The
grain contains about 9.6% protein and 2.6% lysine
(100 g -1 protein). Food prepared from the variety
is good and comparable with that from CSH 5, a
popular commercial sorghum hybrid in India.
Variety SV 2, A 6460: This is an example of a variety
from ICRISAT-Patancheru tested and released by
national programs in their own countries. The
Department of Research and Specialist Services
(DR&SS) of Zimbabwe introduced A 6460 from
ICRISAT-Patancheru in 1980. It was evaluated and
released as SV 2 (Figure 17) in 1987 for its earliness
and higher grain yield. In on-station trials in
Zimbabwe, SV 2 provided a grain yield of 3.38 t
ha -1 that compares with 2.73 t ha -1 for local
varieties. SV 2 flowered 13 days earlier than the
local variety.
ICSV 400: A high yielding ICRISAT-Patancheru bred
variety enjoys wide adoption in Nigeria and
Ghana. Sales of ICSV 400 increased enormously
to 4.5 million Naira (US$40,000) in 2001 because
of the variety’s suitability in the brewing industry.
Virtually all Guinness Stout, one of Nigeria’s most
popular beverages, is brewed from ICSV 400.
Figure 16. ICSV 112, a high yielding popular variety
released in several African and a few Latin American
countries.
Figure 17. SV 2, an early-maturing and high-yielding
variety developed in ICRISAT-Patancheru and
released in Zimbabwe.
Spillovers from Africa to Asia: There are two good
examples of sorghum lines introduced from Africa
(IRAT 408 and IS 30468) through ICRISAT: (1) PARC
SS 2, which was derived from a Malian line (IRAT
408) and introduced by ICRISAT through
germplasm exchange to Pakistan and was released
there in 1991. (2) NTJ 2, a selection by ICRISAT
from an Ethiopian landrace introduced and
released in Andhra Pradesh (India) in 1990. These
lines were distributed to the national programs after
some selections at Patancheru. NARS scientists
evaluated them in national trials before their
release.
Spillovers within Africa: Several varieties bred in
one region excelled in their performance in other
regions.
Variety Macia (SDS 3220) (Figure 18): This is an
open-pollinated, early-maturing, stay green and
high-yielding variety developed at ICRISAT-
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in 1989. It was released in
Mozambique (as Macia in 1989), Botswana (as
Phofu in 1994), Namibia (as Macia in 1998),
Zimbabwe (as Macia in 1998) and Tanzania (as
Macia in 1999). Farmers are benefiting from rapid
and extensive adoption of the variety in these two
countries (Botswana and Mozambique). Phofu is
being planted by 21% of the sorghum farmers in
Botswana. This was followed by a sequence of
releases in three other SADC countries – Namibia
(1998), Zimbabwe (1998) (it was released by
SeedCo Ltd, a private seed company) and Tanzania
(1999). This variety is being cultivated in an area
of 0.1 million ha for its good taste and food quality
in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique,
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