Selecting Summer Annual Varieties Using Yield and Digestibility

Selecting Summer Annual Varieties Using Yield and Digestibility

Although cool-season grasses can provide ample and high quality forage for grazing livestock in the spring and fall, forage growth during the summer months is often restricted by high temperatures (Figure 1). In contrast warm-season annual grasses are most productive during the summer months and do not reach peak growth until temperatures approach 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer annual grasses such as forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke) can provide high quality summer grazing for ruminant livestock in many regions of the United States.