Sorghum holds the potential for enhancing food security, yet the impact of the interplay of water stress and salinity on its growth and productivity remains unclear. To address this, we studied how drought and salinity affect physiological traits, water use, biomass, and yield in different tropical sorghum varieties, utilizing a functional phenotyping platform, Plantarray. Cultivars (Kuali, Numbu, Samurai2) were grown under moderate and high salinity, with drought exposure at booting stage. Results showed that Samurai2 had the most significant transpiration reduction under moderate and high salt (36% and 48%) versus Kuali (22% and 42%) and Numbu (19% and 16%). Numbu reduced canopy conductance (25% and 15%) the most compared to Samurai2 (22% and 33%) and Kuali (8% and 35%). In the drought*salinity treatment, transpiration reduction was substantial for Kuali (54% and 57%), Samurai2 (45% and 60%), and Numbu (29% and 26%). Kuali reduced canopy conductance (36% and 53%) more than Numbu (36% and 25%) and Samurai2 (33% and 49%). Biomass, grain yield, and a-100 grain weight declined in all cultivars under both salinity and drought*salinity, and Samurai2 was most significantly affected. WUE_biomass significantly increased under drought*salinity. Samurai2 showed reduced WUE_grain under drought*salinity, unlike Kuali and Numbu, suggesting complex interactions between water limitation and salinity in tropical sorghum.

Rainfed rice fields in Gampong Blang Nibong, Aceh Utara, have low productivity due to rice monoculture and limited water access. This community service activity applied a Farmer Field School (FFS) approach with demonstration plots to enhance farmers’ knowledge and skills in sorghum cultivation. Hands-on practice on a 0.5-hectare plot and participatory training, involving 25 members of the Blang Nibong Farmers Group, resulted in an 84.5% knowledge increase, with 72% of participants interested in allocating land for sorghum. The approach promotes crop diversification, improves land productivity, and strengthens household economic resilience. Program sustainability is ensured through a sorghum development group, management of demonstration plots as seed gardens, and active collaboration with stakeholders. Results indicate that participatory FFS training effectively facilitates technology adoption in rainfed fields while raising farmers’ awareness of the importance of adaptive agronomic innovations.

Peningkatan produksi sorgum dapat dilakukan melalui perbaikan kultur penanaman dan perakitan varietas. Pemberian input yang tepat dan sesuai serta penggunaan varietas yang benar berdasarkan tujuan penanaman dapat mengurangi resiko kegagalan dalam budidaya sorgum terutama di lahan-lahan yang termasuk marginal. Penelitian diatur menggunakan metode rancangan acak kelompok (RAK) faktorial. Faktor yang diteliti adalah pengaplikasian serbuk cangkang telur yang terdiri dari tanpa pemberian, pemberian 15 g/polybag, pemberian 20 g/polybag, dan pemberian 25 g/polybag. Faktor kedua adalah varietas terdiri dari Numbu, Kawali, dan UPCA. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pemberian serbuk cangkang telur berakibat pada pertumbuhan tanaman sorgum yang lebih baik terhadap variabel tinggi tanaman, berat basah batang, berat kering batang, panjang akar, jumlah akar, berat basah akar dan berat kering akar dan juga memiliki respon terbaik terhadap pertumbuhan vegetatif sorgum. Varietas Pahat memiliki pertumbuhan dan perkembangan tanaman sorgum yang terbaik dibandingkan degan varietas UPCA dan Numbu.Kata kunci: sorgum, cangkang telur, pertumbuhan, aplikasi