Sorghum Diseases in India

Sorghum Diseases in Thailand
T. Boon-Long 1
Abstract
Sorghum is cultivated in Thailand as a second crop or mixed with other crops. In 1987, it occupied
about 193 000 ha with a production of 211 258 tonnes. Diseases include grain mold, ergot, gray
leaf spot, and other leaf diseases. Leaf disease is less important than grain disease, because diseases
usually appear late, after the grain has filled. The downy mildew of maize in Thailand does not
infect sorghum.
Grain mold disease resistance has been tested at Suwan Farm and Supanbusi research center.
The prevalent organisms are Curvularia lunata, Colletotrichurn graminicola,
C. gloeosporoides, Fusarium spp, and Phoma sp. Ergot in Thailand was first identified in
1983, and spread on male-sterile sorghums used for hybrid production in 1984. The hosts are
Sorghum vulgare, S. almum, S. sudanensis, S. halepense, Dichanthium annulatum, Brachiatia
mutica, and Panicum maximum.
Introduction
Sorghum is third of the important cereal crops in
Thailand; in 1987, about 193 000 ha produced
about 211 million kg (Table 1) (Thailand: Ministry
of Agriculture and Cooperatives 1987). Sorghum
is grown in scattered locations throughout
the central plain and northeastern Thailand.
The important sorghum-growing provinces
are Nakornsawan, Lopburi, Saraburi, and Nakornrajseema.
It is cultivated mostly after corn
as a second crop, or mixed with other crops. In
1987, the average yield was about 1.15 t ha -1 in
Thailand. Yields vary from year to year; the best
yield (2.5 t ha -1 ) was harvested in 1965 (Pupipat
1980) and the annual yield over the last decade is
just a bit more than 1.08 t ha -1 . Eighty percent of
the production is exported; the remainder is
used for animal feed in the country. Rainfall in
most of the sorghum-growing area ranges from
900-1600 mm, with good distribution from May
through October. Mean, maximum, and minimum
temperatures are 28 to 29, 40, and 19°C,
Table 1. Sorghum production in Thailand,
1978-87. 1
1. Sorghum Pathologist, Plant Pathology and Microbiology Division, Thailand Department of Agriculture, Bangkok 10900,
Thailand.
Boon-Long, T. 1992. Sorghum diseases in Thailand. Pages 41-43 HI Sorghum and millets diseases: a second world review, (de
Milliano, W.A.J., Frederiksen, R.A., and Bengston, G.D., eds). Patancheru, A.P. 502 324, India: International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
Year
Area
sown
('000 ha)
Area
harvested
('000 has)
Production
('000 t)
Yield
(t ha- 1 )
1978 169.9 150.6 126 0.84
1979 175.7 150.7 216 1.40
1980 189.1 160.6 199 1.20
1981 247.4 234.1 237 1.00
1982 279.8 266.1 274 1.00
1983 245.4 236.2 236 1.00
1984 265.1 250.9 327 1.30
1985 294.1 283.7 374 1.30
1986
1987
309.6
193.9
291.7
183.7
404
211
1.40
1.20
1. Source: Thailand: Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
(1987).
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