When was sorghum introduced into China?

Sorghum, also known as sorghum, peach millet, wood millet, etc., is an annual herb of Gramineae sorghum. It is widely cultivated in China. It can be divided into edible sorghum, sugar sorghum, broom sorghum, etc., edible sorghum grains for food and wine, sugar sorghum stalks can be made into syrup or raw food, broom sorghum ears can be used to make brooms or cooking brooms. Let's take a look at when sorghum was introduced into China.

When was sorghum introduced into China?

The history of unearthed cultural relics and agricultural books of sorghum proves that sorghum has been planted for at least 5000 years. There have been two theories about its origin and evolution for many years, one is that it was introduced from Africa or India, and the other is that it is of Chinese origin. But many researchers believe that sorghum originated in Africa and was later introduced to India and then to the far East. Sorghum is widely distributed and has many morphological variations in the world, and Africa is the region with the largest number of sorghum varieties. Snowton collected 17 wild sorghum species, of which 16 were from Africa. Of the 31 cultivated species identified, 28 were African, and only 4 of the 158 varieties were outside Africa.

Growth habits of Sorghum

Sorghum likes temperature and light, and the temperature needed during the growth period is higher than that of maize, and it has certain characteristics of high temperature tolerance, and the suitable temperature for the whole growth period is 20: 30 ℃. Moreover, sorghum is a C4 crop and needs plenty of light during the whole growth period. The root system is developed, the root cell has a high osmotic pressure and has a strong ability to absorb water from the soil. At the same time, there is a layer of white wax on the surface of stems and leaves, which can reduce sensitivity during drought.

Where is the producing area of sorghum?

1. Spring sowing precocious areas: spring sowing precocious areas include all provinces and regions such as Heilongjiang, Jilin and Inner Mongolia, Chengde area of Hebei Province, Zhangjiakou Baxia area, northern Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, Ningxia arid areas, central Gansu Province and Hexi region, * northern plains and basins, etc. The main varieties are precocious and mid-precocious. Because the accumulated temperature is low, the production is easy to be affected by low temperature and cold injury, so technical measures should be taken to prevent low temperature and promote precocity. Annual ripening system, usually sowing in the first and middle of May and harvest in September.

2. Spring sowing late ripening areas: spring sowing late ripening areas include most of Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other provinces, yellow irrigation areas of Beijing, Tianjin, Ningxia, eastern and southern Gansu Province, southern and eastern Xinjiang basins, etc., which are the main producing areas of sorghum in China, with a high yield per unit area. It is basically an one-year ripening system, and most of the cultivated varieties use late-maturing seeds because of the good heat conditions. In recent years, due to the reform of farming system, summer sowing sorghum has been planted after wheat harvest, which has changed from one crop a year to three crops or two crops a year.

3. Spring and summer sowing areas: spring and summer sowing areas include Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Hebei and other provinces. Spring sowing sorghum and summer sowing sorghum account for about half of each other. Spring sowing sorghum is mostly distributed in low-lying and saline-alkali land with poor soil quality, and middle and late mature seeds are mostly used. Summer sowing sorghum is mainly distributed in flat fertilizer land. As the next crop of summer harvest, early-maturing species with a growth period of no more than 100 days are mostly used. The cultivation system is mainly two crops in one year or three crops in two years.

4. Southern sorghum area: the southern sorghum area includes the south of Central China, South China and Southwest China. The distribution area is vast, mostly sporadic planting, the provinces with relatively more planting are Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan and other provinces. The varieties used are very short-day, most of them are loose ear type and waxy varieties, and most of them are tillering. The cultivation system is three crops a year, and the regenerated sorghum has been developed to a certain extent in recent years.