Evaluation of sweet sorghum genotypes for bioethanol yield and related traits

Abstract

The cultivation of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) for bioethanol production is receiving global attention due to the plant's sugar‐rich stalk juice, which can be fermented directly to ethanol. One of the important steps toward the development of a superior sweet sorghum cultivar is proper assessment of bioethanol‐related traits in different environments. This study was conducted to characterize global sweet sorghum accessions for bioethanol yield and related traits. To do this and to obtain a final cultivar suitable for efficient bioethanol production, two different environments were chosen to select for the characteristics studied. In total, 53 genotypes, which were selected from 551 accessions and nine cultivars, were evaluated in two contrasting environments and two consecutive years (2014–2015). The results revealed wide variability among the genotypes for the traits investigated. In all the growing years and locations, the highest values for the extractable stalk juice yield, bioethanol yield, and juice Brix content were recorded for BSS55 (22 740 L ha−1), BSS46 (1569.6 L ha−1), and BSS67 (15.63 °Bx), respectively. The genotypes that originated from the USA showed some of the highest values for bioethanol yield and related traits. Positive and very high correlations were observed between the bioethanol yield and extractable stalk juice yield (r = 0.861**) and fructose and glucose concentration (r = 0.856**). The knowledge obtained in this investigation about the variation in the bioethanol yield and related traits led to potential genotypes that can be used in sweet sorghum breeding programs for bioenergy production. © 2020 Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Bioethanol Production from Stalk Residues of Chiquere and Gebabe Varieties of Sweet Sorghum

“…In this study, stalk residuals of Gebabe variety reducing sugar were not similar to the studies reported by Hunsigi et al [ 36 ], who reported highest reducing sugars were observed in RSSV 138 (14.78%) and the least reducing sugars were observed in NSSV 260 (11.35%) varieties of sweet sorghum. The range obtained was slightly lower than the findings of Batoul [ 37 ]; Guden et al [ 38 ] found a range of 9.19 to 18.47%. The highest reducing sugar of Chiquere variety was 18.3%, which is found in the range of the study reported by Sir Elkhatim [ 39 ], who found lowest and highest reducing sugar contents were 13.64 and 18.78%, respectively, in sweet sorghum.…”

Effects of Different Salt Concentrations on Germination and Seedling Growth of Some Sweet Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor var. saccharatum (L.) Mohlenbr.] Cultivars

“…saccharatum (L.) Mohlenbr. ], a C4 crop with high photosynthetic efficiency (Almodares and Hadi, 2009), is used for animal feeding (Inal et al, 2021), and ethanol production (Guden et al, 2020), and is a drought and high-temperature tolerant species. High genetic variation for salt tolerance among sorghum genotypes that are generally tolerant to abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity was reported (Maiti et al, 1994;Rajabi Dehnavi et al, 2020).…”

Mobilizing sorghum genetic diversity: Biochemical and histological‐assisted design of a stem ideotype for biomethane production

“…As a consequence, for BMP as for first‐generation ethanol production based on stem soluble sugars (Guden et al, 2020), there is a higher priority to mobilize alleles maximizing the soluble sugar content of the stem in the elite BMP varieties than to manipulate the cell wall composition. Nevertheless, analysis of midrib color variability, which is a proxy of the dry gene alleles (green (juicy) vs. white (dry)) whose impact on sugar yield has been confirmed (in Xia et al, 2018 but also in the present study ( p < 0.012)), in our panel, did not reveal a significant impact on the Biomethane potential ( p > 0.064).…”