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Colby, Kansas | Matt,
What we are seeing in some studies with sorghum is a quadratic response (not statistically significant, but a trend none-the-less) to stubble height where the yields have been higher in the tall cut, and about equal in the short cut and stripped. When we break it down into yield components it appears that tillering MAY be reduced by the stripped stubble.
If you look at tables 2 and 4 in my attachment you'll see that in this past year the kernels per head yield component was affected by stubble height with the stripped having the highest down to short cut. Although it didn't test significant you can see that heads/plant played a role in getting us to the trend in grain yield we see, with tall cut having the highest heads/plant. The across years data (Table 4) shows something similar.
I want to stress that by no means do I think we have anything close to an answer here, I'm certainly not prepared to say that stripped stubble inhibits tillering, but its caught our eye and deserves some attention. If someone was concerned about this and had to have a recommendation this next year at planting time, mine would be to keep the stripper and plant your sorghum slightly thicker.
Regards,
Lucas
Edited by LHaag 7/2/2009 10:13
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Shelbourne stripper head pros/cons
