Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a multipurpose crop (food, feed, fodder and fuel) that has the potential as an alternative biofuel feedstock without impacting food and fodder security. This chapter entitled ‘‘Sweet sorghum: From theory to practice’’ discusses on the historical developments in sweet sorghum and immense range of genetic variability that was available in major sorgh...

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a multiple-purpose crop which has been consumed as either food or feed and recently, industrially cultivated for liquid sugar and ethanol production. Biomass and carbohydrate composition of sweet sorghum are considered as important factors for industrial productions. Thus, in this study fresh stalk yield, total sugars, sucrose content and invert su...

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of four nitrogen treatments (50, 100, 150 and 200 Kg urea / ha) on biomass, crude protein, soluble carbohydrates and crude fiber contents in three fodders (corn, sweet sorghum and sweet sorghum bagasse) at the filed experimental station. The results showed the effects of nitrogen treatments and fodders on the above measurements were significant...

The carbohydrate contents of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is an important industrial factor for crystal sugar or bioethanol production. In this study the relationship between growth analysis and carbohydrate contents were studied to recognize the best growth stages for sweet sorghum harvesting. Five sweet sorghum cultivars and four sweet sorghum lines were evaluated for leaf area i...

Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a type of cultivated sorghum characterized by the accumulation of high levels of sugar in the stems and high biomass accumulation, making this crop an important feedstock for bioenergy production. Sweet sorghum breeding programs that focus on bioenergy have two main goals: to improve quantity and quality of sugars in the juicy stem and to increase ...

Sweet sorghum is a popular grain crop grown in water stress prone areas in the world. Its sole stand leaves ample resources untapped. This study evaluated the feasibility of intercropping sweet sorghum using eight intercropping patterns composed of 2 x 2 x 2 factorial combinations of two legumes (viz. mung bean and soybean), two row patterns [viz. alternate single row (ASR) and double row (ADR)...

the chemical and fermentative parameters of three fresh forages and silages of sorghum including sweet, pegah and speedfeed varieties were compared with corn using in vitro method, also degradability coefficients of forages and silages were determined by in situ method. forages were planted in the same condition and harvested in soft dough stage, then ensilaged in four replicates for each time ...

Sweet sorghum is a promising target for biofuel production. It is a C4 crop with low input requirements and accumulates high levels of sugars in its stalks. However, large-scale planting on marginal lands would require improved varieties with optimized biofuel-related traits and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Considering this, many studies have been carried out to generate genetic an...

The potential of utilizing dried sweet sorghum stalks as raw material for anaerobic digestion has been evaluated. Two different treatments were tested, a mild thermal and an enzymatic, alone or in combination. Thermal pretreatment was found to decrease the methane yields, whereas one-step enzymatic treatment resulted in a significant increase of 15.1% comparing to the untreated sweet sorghum. S...

The research work on sweet sorghum carried out at the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) during last twenty-five years has been summarized. American lines were crossed with a local Indian fodder/grain variety to produce varieties with a juicy stalk and good quality grain. Further breeding was carried out to produce varieties and hybrids giving high yield of good quality grain while ...