Characterization of New Sugar Sorghum Varieties (Sorghum Bicolor (L.) Moench) for Grain and Sugar Yield Under Two Growing Conditions in the Sudano-Sahelian Zone of Samanko, Mali

Abstract

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) constitutes a food source for millions of people. Nowadays, sweet sorghums have the same interest as sugarcane. Traditional sweet sorghums have a high level of juice and sugar but a low grain yield. New sweet sorghum varieties have been developed by ICRISAT. In order to evaluate the effect of phosphorus on some agronomic and biochemical parameters of these new varieties, a study entitled "Characterization of new sweet sorghum varieties (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) for their grain and sugar yield under two growing conditions in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Samanko, Mali" was carried out. The trial was set up in an alpha lattice design with 2 replications. The treatments consisted of 48 sweet sorghum varieties, with 3 grain varieties as controls. Observations focused on agro-morphological parameters and sugar yield components. The results showed a high significance difference between lines for all variables measured except vigor at emergence. On soil with DAP application, 50% of the lines with a cycle of 263 to 273 Julian days had a grain yield higher than 2 t/ha. Only one line (L17) was earlier and more stable in both environments with a cycle of 271 to 273 Julian days. On soil without DAP application, only line L40 had an average yield gain of 2t/ha above the local control (Tieblé). The best performances in sugar concentration were obtained in High-P with 10 lines whose Brix varied from 18% to 20.25% and 15.3% to 17.7% in Low P.

Biobutanol Production Using Non-grain Biomass Sorghum saccharatum as a Substrate

“…A whole gene pool of S. saccharatum (L.) Moench has been created in the NBS, which is characterized by early maturity, drought resistance, high yield of phytomass, high content of carbohydrates in the above-ground mass, and yield of bioethanol [12]. The core of the stem of sweet sorghum contains sweet juice with a different composition of sugars: sucrose, glucose, and fructose [20]. For this reason, the promising varieties and hybrids of the NBS with these parameters were selected: Energodar variety, hybrid AMBR-1, hybrid-720, and hybrid ST-207.…”