No abstract

No abstract

Biomass samples from field trials of seven sweet sorghum hybrids cultivated in heavy metals polluted area where harvested and the main production features where quantified. Sugars were harvested from sorghum stalks by pressing the juice and by water extraction of sugars from resulted bagasse. Sugars production was quantified (glucose by enzymatic assay and total reducing sugars by DNS assay). The sorghum hybrids evaluated in this work accumulated high quantities of biomass in 140 days of cultivation (up to 33 tons D.M.• ha-1). Up to 270 mg• g-1 of juice was extracted from the fresh biomass containing up to 85 mg• ml-1 reducing sugars. By water extraction, low concentration sugars solutions are obtained, but higher yields reported to sorghum biomass comparing with juice pressing. the first three best potentials in terms of sugar production per hectare are hybrids F135ST, Sugargraze II and Sugargraze. In conclusion, Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench] can be successfully cultivated in heavy metals polluted area to produce biomass and sugars for industrial purpose that can be used to produce biofuels and other biochemicals. Cultivation of the seven sorghum hybrids in tested conditions for a period longer than 140 days (up to 170 days) does not increase the sugar production potentials, by contrary, in the most of cases the yielding potentials decreases.