Mining Sorghum Biodiversity—Potential of Dual-Purpose Hybrids for Bio-Economy

Abstract

Sweet, grain, and dual-purpose sorghums differ in a number of important traits, including biomass production, total solutes in the stem juice, and sugar accumulation across the stem. Ten dual-purpose hybrids, two sweet genotypes, and two grain landraces of sorghums were characterized under temperate environmental conditions to determine their potential for bioethanol production. Five sorghum hybrids (Ganymed, Hannibal, Tarzan, Merlin, and Zerberus) performed better with respect to cane yield, juice yield, potential sugar, and ethanol yields compared to sweet and grain genotypes. While the sweet genotype KIT1 produced the highest sugar concentration in the stem, the lowest concentration was produced by the grain landrace Razinieh. The study showed that plant height, leaf number, leaf weight, cane yield, and juice yield were positively correlated with the sugar yield in fresh stalk. Sugar accumulation was higher in the central internodes of all genotypes. Clustering analysis showed that sweet genotypes are located more closely to dual-purpose hybrids than grain landraces. We discuss the results with respect to the potential of dual-purpose sorghum hybrids for bio-economy in Germany.

Starve to Sustain—An Ancient Syrian Landrace of Sorghum as Tool for Phosphorous Bio-Economy?

“…It is mandatory, therefore, to comprehend how plants respond to P i starvation during the vegetative growth stage, and to design strategies to breed varieties with better P i uptake and use efficiency. For the current study, we took advantage of the morpho-physiological and molecular differences between a sweet (Della) and a grain (Razinieh) variety of sorghum [26][27][28][29], in order to understand how different sorghum types respond to P i starvation. We analysed morpho-physiological parameters, expression of key genes, and chemical speciation of phosphorous.…”

“…Although showing a reduction in leaf growth, the sweet variety Della retains anthocyanin accumulation, even at higher levels than Razinieh. This has to be seen on the background of the higher level of sugar in the shoot of Della [29] compared to Razinieh [26][27][28]. Since sugars accumulate under P i starvation [36], it is straightforward to assume that glycosylation of the phenolic moiety and import to the vacuole are crucial for this pigment response.…”

“…This study made use of a grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. cv 'Razinieh') variety, and a sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. cv 'Della') variety. Razinieh is an improved Syrian landrace [26][27][28], while Della is a sweet sorghum variety, developed from a cross of Dale and ATx622 by Bob Harrison, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and released in December 1991 [79].…”

Toward bioeconomy of a multipurpose cereal: Cell wall chemistry of Sorghum is largely buffered against stem sugar content

“…Previous research investigating the accumulation of sucrose in sweet and grain sorghum stems indicated that sucrose accumulation begins with the start of the reproductive phase (Kanbar, Flubacher, et al, 2021; Lingle, 1987). Sorghum accumulates sugar preferentially in the central internodes, whereas the basal internodes accumulate more stem weight (Kanbar, Flubacher, et al, 2021). Compared to the grain types, sweet genotypes double or even triple the sugar concentration in all internodes (Kanbar et al, 2021).…”

“…Sorghum accumulates sugar preferentially in the central internodes, whereas the basal internodes accumulate more stem weight (Kanbar, Flubacher, et al, 2021). Compared to the grain types, sweet genotypes double or even triple the sugar concentration in all internodes (Kanbar et al, 2021). Sucrose is the main soluble sugar of sorghum, accompanied by glucose and fructose (Chen et al, 2014; Simeone et al, 2017), which allows inferring sugar content refractometrically (Murray et al, 2009).…”