Sweet sorghum as biofuel feedstock: recent advances and available resources

Abstract

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 and genomic resources for sweet sorghum. In this review, we discuss various attributes of sweet sorghum that make it an ideal candidate for biofuel feedstock, and provide an overview of genetic diversity, tools, and resources available for engineering and/or marker-assisting breeding of sweet sorghum. Finally, the progress made so far, in identification of genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs) important for agronomic traits and ongoing molecular breeding efforts to generate improved varieties, has been discussed.

Genotypic covariations of traits underlying sorghum stem biomass production and quality and their regulations by water availability: Insight from studies at organ and tissue levels

“…These results have implications in the context of bioenergy sorghum breeding (Mathur et al, 2017;de Oliveira et al, 2018;Regassa & Wortmann, 2014). It also showed that the effect of water deficit and rewatering on stem biomass production and composition is genotype and trait dependent.…”

“…The response to water availability of traits related to stem growth and biochemistry was poorly correlated as well as the drought sensitivity and recovery capacity for a given trait. These results have implications in the context of bioenergy sorghum breeding (Mathur et al, 2017;de Oliveira et al, 2018;Regassa & Wortmann, 2014). First, stem biomass production and composition have to be considered jointly to develop new varieties relevant for the different value chains.…”

Up‐regulation of lipid biosynthesis increases the oil content in leaves of Sorghum bicolor

“…Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world. Grain sorghum varieties provide an important staple food and feed supply, while sweet and forage sorghum varieties are cultivated for biofuel and fodder markets, respectively (Calvino and Messing, 2012;Mathur et al, 2017;Smith and Frederiksen, 2000). Compared to sugarcane, sorghum is adapted to both tropical and temperate growing regions due to its higher water use efficiency and the ability to enter growth arrest when facing drought conditions.…”

Biomass and Sugar Content of Some Varieties of Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor L. Moench) on Dry Land Forest as Feedstock Bioethanol

“…Variety of Super 2 (V3) has the highest stem that is 301.28 cm (Table 2) and followed by a high number of total biomass (Table 3), as stated at [20] that plant height is directly proportional to biomass. From 4 different varieties, variety of Super 2 (V3) has the highest result of the dry weight of stem, dry weight of leaf, dry weight of panicle and total of biomass.…”