Sorghum in English, Jowar in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, Jola in Kannada, Solam in Tamilnadu, Jonalu in Telugu and Jwari in (Rajasthani, Gujarati and Marathi)

Sorghum is grown both as kharif as well as a rabi crop. As a kharif crop, it grows well in areas having mean monthly temperature of 26°C to 33°C.

However, the rabi crop can be grown in areas where the mean monthly temperature does not fall below 16°C. It requires more than 30 cm rainfall during the growing period and does not grow where the rainfall exceeds 100 cm.

Sorghum is par excellence a rainfed crop of dry farming areas where irrigation is not used. Both excessive moisture and prolonged droughts are harmful for its proper growth. Though it can be grown in a variety of soils including loamy and sandy soils, clayey deep regur and alluvium are the best suited soils for sorghum. Most of the crop is grown in plain areas but it can also be raised on gentle slopes upto 1,200 metres height.

In the Maharashtra plateau region, sorghum is the staple food of the people and two crops in a year are raised here. First is sown just before the onset of the monsoon and the second is sown after the retreat of the monsoon.