Sorghum Product Development

The Pioneer Sorghum Research team develops grain sorghum hybrids that offer dependable performance under a wide variety of environmental conditions. This helps increase the efficiency and profitability of customers around the world.

The goals of the Pioneer Sorghum Research team are to:

Develop products with improved harvestable yield.
Incorporate genetic traits to reduce crop losses from diseases, insects, lodging, drought, stress, etc.
Improve the physical quality of the grain produced.

Product development efforts focus on yield for maturity, stability of yield, standability, disease and insect resistance, grain quality for livestock feed and industrial uses including ethanol production.

Pioneer sorghum researchers have developed a strong and diverse international research network. This allows researchers to use a broad base of elite germplasm to develop products that benefit customers and quickly address their changing needs.

Highlights of Pioneer Sorghum Research:

Inbred and Hybrid Development - Pioneer sorghum breeders around the world develop approximately 1,500 new elite inbred parent lines each year. The parent lines are evaluated in more than 10,000 new experimental hybrids.

Wide-Area Testing - Five research centers are strategically located in major sorghum-growing areas to maximize the development of unique hybrids for key markets in the United States, Mexico, South America and Australia. Experimental hybrids are grown at multiple locations over multiple years to identify performance stability.

Drought Tolerance - To mirror conditions faced by most sorghum producers, all breeding programs are located in areas where moisture stress is common.

Disease Resistance - Pioneer leads the industry in the number of hybrids with outstanding anthracnose, downy mildew and head smut resistance. Breeders also work to incorporate high levels of resistance to leaf blight, sooty stripe, gray leaf spot, rust and more.

Insect Resistance - Developing products with insect resistance is a major objective of sorghum research. Breeders work to improve the level and stability of resistance to greenbugs, sorghum midge and others.

Root and Stalk Strength - Root and stalk strength are key elements of the total package of traits. All research programs focus on improved standability, which ranks second behind yield in importance to many customers. Pioneer® brand hybrids have an advantage over competitors in most markets when it comes to stalk, root or post-freeze lodging resistance.

Sorghum Research Locations by Region
Asia/Pacific Rim	1
North America	6
South America	1
Total	8