The High Plains Journalhas reported on concerns of High Plains farmers about the returning presence of sugarcane aphids to the region this season, which could be a threat to sorghum yields. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts have suggested that hybrid pearl millet might be an alternative for growers. Hybrid pearl millet could be especially beneficial in areas where sorghum was hit heavily by sugarcane aphids in 2014.
The sugarcane aphid reproduces very fast, and can devastate a sorghum crop in a few weeks. But hybrid pearl millet, a leafy forage, appears to be largely unaffected by aphids. Calvin Trostle, an AgriLife Extension agronomist in Lubbock, said this does not mean that sugarcane aphid can’t be found in millets, but it appears these aphids find the hybrid pearl millet an unsatisfactory host, and they do not significantly increase their numbers or damage the crop.