Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is simi lar to common

grain sorghum wi t h a sugar - r ich stalk. Sweet sorghum is

characterized by wide adaptabi l i ty, drought resistance,

water logging tolerance, sal ine-alkal i tolerance, rapid

growth, high sugar accumulat ion, and biomass. Lengthy

growing per iod and high water requi rement are the

disadvantages in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)

and sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris), the main sources of sugar

product ion in the wor ld. These factors along wi t h the

comparat ive disadvantage of molasses (higher pr ice, and

water and air pol lut ion) are expected to increase the

interest in sweet sorghum. The water requi rement of

sugarcane is about 36000 m3, which is double that of sugarbeet whi le that of sweet sorghum

Reddy, B V S

Reddy, P S

ICRISAT Open Access Repository

of fer t i le plants were observed in the self-pol l inatedprogeny of this selection (Table 2). In 2002, wh ich wasalso characterized by strict drought dur ingmicrosporogenesis, the percentage of fert i le plants in thisselection was 8 0 % ; its testcross populations w i th[M35]Pishchevoye-614 were also characterized by h ighlevel of male fer t i l i ty .Thus, as a result of genetic recombinat ion andsubsequent selection at regime of drought dur ingmicrosporogenesis we could create rel iable l ines- fer t i l i tyrestorers capable for restoration of male fer t i l i ty of the F1hybrids in the M 3 5 cytoplasm under condi t ions ofmoisture def ic iency.ReferencesElkonin LA and Kozhemyakin VV . 2000. Cytoplasmicreversions as a possible mechanism of male-fertility restorationin the 9E CMS-inducing cytoplasm of sorghum. InternationalSorghum and Millets Newsletter 41:30-31.Elkonin LA, Kozhemyakin VV and Ishin AG. 1998. Nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions in restoration of male fertil ity in the'9E' and A4 CMS-inducing cytoplasms of sorghum.Theoretical and Applied Genetics 97:626-632.Pring DR, Tang HV and Schertz KF. 1995. Cytoplasmicmale sterility and organelle DNAs of sorghum. Pages 461-495in Molecular biology of plant mitochondria. Boston, USA:Kluwer Academic Publishers.Sweet Sorghum: Characteristics andPotentialBVS Reddy* and P Sanjana Reddy (ICRISAT.Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India)*Corresponding author: b.reddy@cgiar.orgIntroductionSweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is s imi lar to commongrain sorghum w i t h a sugar-r ich stalk. Sweet sorghum ischaracterized by wide adaptabi l i ty, drought resistance,water logging tolerance, sal ine-alkal i tolerance, rapidg rowth , h igh sugar accumulat ion, and biomass. Lengthygrowing per iod and h igh water requirement are thedisadvantages in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)and sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris), the main sources of sugarproduct ion in the wor ld . These factors along w i th thecomparat ive disadvantage of molasses (higher pr ice, andwater and air po l lu t ion) are expected to increase theinterest in sweet sorghum. The water requirement ofsugarcane is about 36000 m3, wh ich is double that ofsugarbeet wh i le that of sweet sorghum, due to itsextensive root system and short g row ing per iod, is about8000 m3 (Soltani and Almodares 1994). Var iab i l i t y hasbeen recorded in sweet sorghum for grain y ie ld f r om 1.5to 7.5 t ha-1, for br ix ranging f rom 13 to 24%, for sucrosef rom 7.2% to 15.5%, for stalk y ie ld f rom 24 to 120 t ha-1and for biomass y ie ld f rom 36 to 140 t ha-1 (A lmodares etal . 1997). Sweet sorghum has a biomass product ioncapacity equal or superior to sugarcane in the tropics( M o n k et al . 1984). A l coho l is produced at 6106 L ha-1f r om sweet sorghum whi le only 4680 L ha-1 f r omsugarcane is produced. There are several advantages ofusing sweet sorghum instead of sugarcane for alcoholproduct ion. These are: sweet sorghum is harvested infour months (whereas, the f irst cut of sugarcane is 18months after p lant ing) ; sweet sorghum product ion can becompletely mechanized; the crop can be established f romseed; the gra in may be used as either food or feed; thesti l lage f rom sweet sorghum has a higher b io log ica l valuethan the bagasse f rom sugarcane when used as forage foranimals. Sti l lage obtained after extract ion of juice f romthe stalks of sweet sorghum contains s imi lar levels ofcel lulose as sugarcane bagasse; therefore, it has a goodprospect as a raw material for pu lp product. It cou ld beprocessed as a feed for ruminant animals (Sumantr i andEdi Purnomo 1997). Furthermore, it is rich inmicronutr ients and minerals (Seetharama et al . 2002).Singh and Singh (1986) reported that jaggery preparedf rom sweet sorghum ju ice contained 7 8 . 1 % sucrose and8.8% reducing sugars wh i le that f r om sugarcanecontained 84.2% sucrose and 7.5% reducing sugars.They also reported that starch in sweet sorghum ju ice , a major problem for sugar product ion, can be removed upto 93.7% w i th the use of f locculent truef loc S-3 (500ppm) and by heating the ju ice to 55°C and adjust ing itspH to 8.5. The qual i ty of sorghum ju ice , sugarcane ju ice ,and the mixed ju ice is g iven in Table 1. Cul t iva t ion ofsweet sorghum w i l l on ly lead to value addi t ion and a shiftin ut i l izat ion and it w i l l not hamper the grain ( f rom paniclesimi lar to grain sorghum) product ion.Table 1. Comparative quality of juice of sweet sorghum andsugarcane1.SampleBrix( % )Purity( % )Reducingsugar(% brix)Starch Ash(pprn) (%)Sorghum juiceSugarcane juiceMixed juice218.4520.2119.3077.382.479.38.715.227.141685 1.26251 0.46363 0.721. Adapted f rom Ed i Purnomo and Sumantr i (1997).2. Sorghum ju ice and sugarcane ju ice mixed in the rat io of 1:5.26 I S M N 44, 2003ProgramsI C R I S A T has ini t iated research, though l im i ted , takingthe future needs into consideration. Several programs(l isted below) arc being taken up to accelerate thecul t ivat ion of sweet sorghum. Research in sweet sorghumis being carried out in several parts of the wor ld lo rdi f ferent objectives as l isted be low:I C R I S A T :• Development of ratoon and mul t icut h igh biomassy ie ld ing sweet sorghum lines.• Development of ratoon and mul t icut dual purposesweet sorghum lines.• Development of ratoon and mul t icut sweet sorghumhybr id parental l ines.Wor ldw ide programs:• Breeding on grain and stalk, y ie ld and qual i tycharacters of sweet sorghum (Romania, India, China,Indonesia, Greece, southern I ta ly , southern Spain,Pakistan, Argent ina, Austral ia, Hungary, Z imbabwe) .• Exp lo i ta t ion of sweet sorghum in fodder sorghumbreeding (China, Europe, Ind ia, I ta ly , Hungary) .• Studies on the effects of feeding sweet sorghum tol ivestock (China, Ind ia, Japan).• Standardization of processing techniques for endproducts ( India, China, Indonesia, Romania, I ta ly,Zambia , Egypt , France, I ran, London) .• Ident i f icat ion of cult ivars desirable for developmentof end products ( India, China, I ta ly , Ukra ine) .T w o major problems that occur dur ing sweet sorghumproduct ion are the crop's sensit ivi ty to ch i l l and lodgingof plants when mature. Ravi et a l . (1997) reported thatintermat ing sweet sorghum w i th grain sorghum havinghigh stalk sugar content and stay green trait is l ike ly toimprove the grain product iv i ty wi thout affect ing stalksugar content. Sorghum stalks are ideal for ethanolproduct ion, as the ethanol f rom sorghum is s igni f icant lycleaner than that f rom sugarcane. Potable alcohol canalso be produced f rom mo ld affected rainy seasonsorghum grain (Seetharama et al . 2002).ProductsThe reasons fo r decl ine in the area under grain sorghumare: (1) progressively reducing per capita consumpt ion ofsorghum; and (2) absence of alternate demand for grain.Sweet sorghum is a mult ipurpose crop. Apart f rom grainand fodder, several alternate products such as forage/silage,syrup, jaggery, a lcohol , fuel for bioenergy product ion,sugar, wine, vinegar, pulp and paper, sweetener andnatural pigments (dark red color) can be made. Thus, itcan create demand through value addit ion to the sorghumcrop.PotentialSweet sorghum can produce f rom a single crop 3 t ha-1grain, 2.03 t ha-1 sugar, whi te spirit ( 65% alcohol) 1.605 t ha-1 and vinegar 11.741 ha-1 (L iu Gui feng et al. 1997). Netincome f rom sorghum is 38% higher than sugarbeet(Almodares and Sepahi 1997). Other products reportedf rom sweet sorghum are:A l coho l : 45.4 L of alcohol f rom one t of chopped stalk,42.1 L f rom one t of shredded stalk, and 39.6 L f rom onet of ju ice extracted before fermentation is obtained(Charl ie et al. 1983) or 2760 L ha-1 (Ravi et al. 1997).Somani and Pandrangi (1993) reported that 384 L ofethanol can be produced f rom one t of sorghum.Sugar: 3.8 to 5.9 t ha-1(Cosentino et al . 1997).Biomass: 56.24 to 65.24 t ha-1 (Jingshan et al. 1997).Wine : One hectare of sweet sorghum produces 3.24 t ofmalt sugar obtained after extract ing crystal sugar, wh ichproduces 1.61 t of spirit ( L i u Gui feng et al . 1997).Vinegar: A f te r re f in ing sugar obtained f rom one ha ofsweet sorghum, the remaining waste can be used toproduce 1.74 t of vinegar (L iu Gui feng et al . 1997).Silage: The effect of silage made of sweet sorghum isbetter than maize (Zea mays): 17.85 t ha-1 of silage isobtained. The output of m i l k is 6 5 % more w i th a savingof 7% green forage compared to maize (Bo l in 1997).Energy product ion: Cul t ivat ion of approximately 250 haof sweet sorghum wou ld result in 500 kWe l powerproduct ion (Chiaramont i and Taviani 1997).ReferencesAlmodares A and Sepahi A. 1997. Potential of sweet sorghumfor liquid sugar production in Iran. Pages 35-39 inProceedings of the First International Sweet SorghumConference, 14-19 Sep 1997, Beijing, China (Li Dajue, ed.).Beijing, China: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ofSciences.Almodares A, Sepahi A and Shirvani M. 1997. Sweetsorghum cultural practices in Iran. Pages 175-183 inProceedings of the First International Sweet SorghumConference. 14-19 Sep 1997, Beijing. China (Li Dajue. ed.).Beijing, China: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ofSciences.I S M N 4 4 , 2 0 0 3 2 7Bolin S. 1997. A conclusion on the effects of sweet sorghumfor feeding milk cow. Pages 688-689 in Proceedings of theFirst International Sweet Sorghum Conference, 14-19 Sep1997, Beij ing, China (Li Dajue, ed.). Beijing, China: Instituteof Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Charlie GC, Itzhak S and Richard PE. 1983. Sweet sorghumprocessing for alcohol production. American Society ofAgricultural Engineers 83:3563.Chiaramonti D and Taviani M. 1997. Small scale combinedheat and power through sweet sorghum crop. Pages 614-622 inProceedings of the First Internationa] Sweet SorghumConference, 14-19 Sep 1997, Beijing, China (Li Dajue, ed) .Beijing, China: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Cosentino SL, Copani V, Riggi E and Mantineo M. 1997.Comparison of different sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.)Moench) genotypes in Mediterranean environment. Pages444-455 in Proceedings of the First International SweetSorghum Conference, 14-19 Sep 1997, Beijing, China (L iDajue, ed.). Beijing, China: Institute of Botany, ChineseAcademy of Sciences.Edi Purnomo and Sumantri A. 1997. The experiences ofmaking sugars from sweet sorghum in Indonesia. Pages 80-87in Proceedings of the First International Sweet SorghumConference, 14-19 Sep 1997, Beij ing, China (L i Dajue, ed.).Beij ing, China: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ofSciences.Jingshan C, Jingyou D, Chengfang D, Zhanzhong J andHaiyi C. 1997. Effect of PP.,.,., on growth and yield of sweetsorghum. Pages 469-474 in Proceedings of the FirstInternational Sweet Sorghum Conference, 14-19 Sep 1997,Beijing, China (Li Dajue, ed.). Beijing, China: Institute ofBotany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Liu Guifeng, Zhang Fuyao, Guo Junmei, Du Zhihong andNiu Tiantang. 1997. Development and prospect of sweetsorghum in Shanxi. Pages 643-650 in Proceedings of the FirstInternational Sweet Sorghum Conference, 14-19 Sep 1997,Beij ing, China (L i Dajue, ed.). Beijing, China: Institute ofBotany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Monk RL, Miller RS and Mc Bec GG. 1984. Sorghumimprovement for energy production. Biomass 6:145-153.Ravi SB, Biswas PK and Elangovan M. 1997. Advances inthe improvement of sweet sorghum in India. Pages 304-311 inProceedings of the First International Sweet SorghumConference, 14-19 Sep 1997, Beij ing, China (L i Dajue, ed.).Beijing, China: Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy ofSciences.Seetharama N. Dayakar Rao B, Ratnavathi CV, ShahidParwez M d , Binu Mathew and Bharath Kumar KA. 2002.Sorghum as a raw material for alcohol production. Presented atthe seminar on Current Development in Alcohol Industryorganized by Distillers' Association of Maharashtra, 25August 2002, Sahar, Mumbai, India.Singh K and Singh B. 1986. Sweet sorghum - an ancillarysugar crop. Indian Farming 36(4):7-8.Soltani A and Almodares A. 1994. Evaluation of theinvestments in sugarbeet and sweet sorghum production.National Convention of Sugar Production from AgricultureProducts, 13-16 March 1994, Shahid Chamran University,Ahwaz, Iran.Somani RB and Pandrangi RB. 1993. Alternate uses ofsorghum. Pages 6-11 in Collaborative sorghum research inAsia: report of the Asian Sorghum Researchers' ConsultativeMeeting, 27-29 Sep 1993, ICRISAT Center, India (GowdaCLL and Stenhouse JW, eds.). Patancheru 502 324, AndhraPradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for theSemi-Arid Tropics.Sumantri A and Edi Purnomo. 1997. Sweet sorghum researchand development in Indonesia. Pages 49-54 in Proceedings ofthe First International Sweet Sorghum Conference, 14-19 Sep1997, Beijing, China (Li Dajue, ed.). Beijing, China: Instituteof Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Grain Yield and Stover Fodder ValueRelations in Rabi SorghumD Ravi1, A D Vishala2, N Y Nayakcr3,N Seetharama2and M Bliimmel1,* (1 . International Livestock ResearchInstitute - South Asia Project, Patancheru 502 324,Andhra Pradesh, India; 2. National Research Centre forSorghum, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030, AndhraPradesh, India; 3. University of Agricultural Sciences,Dharwad 580 005, Karnataka, India)"Corresponding author: m.blummel@cgiar.orgIntroductionBoth sorghum {Sorghum bicolor) grain and stovercontr ibute to l ive l ihoods of poor in India (Ha l l andYogand 2000). Stover ut i l izat ion as fodder can providefor up to 5 0 % of the income f rom cropping (Rama Dev i etal . 2000). In response to farmers' demand for sorghumstover w i th h igh fodder value new sorghum improvementprograms a im at integrat ing stover value as an addit ionaltrait into sorghum breeding and selection. The success ofthis mul t id imensional sorghum improvement depends ontwo essential condi t ions: (1) genotypic var iabi l i ty forstover y ie ld and qual i ty is h igh enough to posi t ivelyimpact on on- farm fodder resources; and (2) relationsbetween desirable traits, for example, grain y ie ld andstover value (y ie ld and qual i ty) are c lar i f ied and traits arenot, or at least not over ly , compet i t ive. These twocondit ions were found to ho ld wide ly true in sorghumgrown in the rainy (knarif) season in India (B l i imme l etal. 2003) but l i t t le in format ion is available about sorghumtypes g rown under the more harsh condit ions in thepostrainy (rabi) season. This work investigates relat ionship28 I S M N 44, 2003

Sweet sorghum: characteristics and potential

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Sweet sorghum: characteristics and potential

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