OAR@ICRISATSweet sorghum for ethanol: A new beginningAAshok KumarauthorChRavinder ReddyauthorJ VPatil authorB V SReddyauthorSorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important dryland cereal grown in India (7.8 million ha) and around the world (45.8 million ha) for food, feed, fodder, bioenergy and fiber. Sweet sorghum is similar to grain sorghum and are generally tall (3.0-4.0 m), late maturing (20-30 days) and relatively photoperiod-sensitive; produce 2-3 t ha-1 grain yield with higher stalk yields (50-60 t ha-1 of fresh biomass). Sweet sorghum is a new generation bioenergy crop that has potential to accumulate sugar (10-15%) in its stalk similar to sugarcane, apart from producing grains. The bagasse, remnant stalk after extraction of juice, can be used as animal feed or for vermicomposting to generate power. The crop has the ability to adapt to various agro-climatic conditions and reasonably tolerates drought and saline-alkaline conditions. The crop is raised from seed and is of shorter duration (115-120 days) than sugarcane (12-18 months) making it amenable for multiple cropping systems. Water use or seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) for sorghum is 508 mm while it is 1257 mm for sugarcane. Water requirement of this crop is one-third that of sugarcane on a comparable time scale. Also, sweet sorghum requires about 22% less water than maize. With these advantages, sweet sorghum is a good bioenergy crop and can complement the available feedstocks for biofuel production.Sorghum2013International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsBook Section

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