Abstract
Background: In recent years sweet sorghum has been used as a feedstock for bioethanol production. It has been identified as having drought tolerance, relatively low input cost and relatively high biomass yield. Results & discussion: In this study, two sweet sorghum cultivars, Sofra and Keller, were planted in three row spacings and three intra-row spacings. Biomass, stalk yield and juice volume were highest at 50 cm row spacing, at 50 t/ha, 40 t/ha and 7818 l/ha, respectively. Total sugar and sucrose content were highest at 15 cm intra-row spacing and it was 13 and 10%, respectively. The sweet sorghum cultivar Sofra had a higher stalk and ethanol yield than Keller. Conclusion: Based on our initial research, the highest ethanol yields under hot and dry climatic conditions were obtained using cultivar Sofra planted at 50 cm row spacing and 15 cm intra-row spacing. This is a preliminary communication and further research is needed to verify these findings.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.