高粱是次于小麦、水稻和玉米的第四大谷类作物。半干旱的热带约有6亿人口把高粱作为大宗食品,中国的温带地区也食用高粱,其他地区则主要用作饲料。高粱原产非洲,植株高大,穗形多样,生有期变幅大,早熟的80～90天,晚熟的6个多月,抗逆性强,很多热带品种为光敏感型。一、高梁品种特性的改良美国于60多年前,在改良品种特性方面取得进展,主要是选育矮秆类型以适应机械化收割,同时选育早熟类型和淘汰光敏感类型。有关株高和生育期遗传的诸多重要的研究是Quinby在1930～1950年间会同Chillicothe的德克萨斯州立农业试验站所进行的。 1.早熟品种的选育从20世纪开始,特别是30年代以后,几个主要 Sorghum is the fourth-largest cereal crop after wheat, rice and corn. Some 600 million people in the semi-arid tropics use sorghum as a staple food, sorghum in temperate regions of China, and feed mainly in other parts of the world. Sorghum native to Africa, tall plants, spike-shaped variety of students with large amplitude period, early maturity of 80 to 90 days, late maturing more than 6 months, strong resistance, many tropical varieties for the light-sensitive. First, the improvement of sorghum variety characteristics The United States 60 years ago, in improving the characteristics of varieties to make progress, mainly the selection of dwarf type to adapt to mechanized harvesting, while breeding types of early breeding and elimination of light-sensitive types. A number of important studies of plant height and heritability have been conducted by Quinby from 1930 to 1950 with the Texas State Agricultural Experiment Station at Chillicothe. 1. The breeding of precocious varieties since the 20th century, especially after the 30s, several major