Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Yield Results and Stability Analysis from the Sorghum Regional Biomass Feedstock Trial

  • Published:
BioEnergy Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is one of four herbaceous dedicated bioenergy crops the U.S. Department of Energy identified as critical to annually produce one billion tons of dry biomass. Of these four crops, sorghum is unique as it is a drought-tolerant, annual crop established from seed that is readily tractable to genetic improvement. The purpose of this study was to assess the yield potential and stability of sorghums grown across diverse production environments in the USA. For this study, six sorghum genotypes (one cultivar, five hybrids) were grown in yield trials in seven locations in six states for 5 years (2008–2012). Variation in dry and fresh yield was attributable to not only genotypes, but also to the effects of year, location, and year × location. Even with the highest yielding genotype, environmental conditions were a major factor in determining the yield in a given year. This variability affects the consistency of the biomass supply for ethanol production. In general, the southeastern USA had the highest mean yields for fresh weight and dry weight, indicating that this area may be the most reliable for biomass production. A significant variation was detected among genotypes for fresh weight, dry weight, moisture content, and brix, revealing that sufficient variation within sorghum exists for continued improvement and that certain hybrids are more tractable for biomass/bioenergy production. With dedicated bioenergy sorghum germplasm and proper production environments, sorghum will be a valuable tool in the goal of the sustainable production of one billion tons of dry biomass each year in the USA.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Almodares A, Taheri R, Adeli S (2007) Inter-relationship between growth analysis and carbohydrate contents of sweet sorghum cultivars and lines. J Environ Biol 28:527–531

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bean BW, Baumhardt RL, McCollum FT III, McCuistion KC (2013) Comparison of sorghum classes for grain and forage yield and forage nutritive value. Field Crop Res 142:20–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Broadhead DM, Zummo N (1983) M 81E sweet sorghum. Crop Sci 23:1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Burks PS, Felderhoff TJ, Viator HP, Rooney WL (2013) The influence of hybrid maturity and planting date on sweet sorghum productivity during a harvest season. Agric J 105:263–267

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dien BS, Sarath G, Pedersen JF, Sattler SE, Chen H, Funnell-Harris DL, Nichols NN, Cotta MA (2009) Improved sugar conversion and ethanol yield for forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) lines with reduced lignin contents. Bioenergy Res 2:153–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (2007) http://www.epa.gov/regulations/laws/eisa.html. Accessed 2 Jan 2013

  7. Erickson JE, Woodard KR, Sollenberger LE (2012) Optimizing sweet sorghum production for biofuel in the southeastern USA through nitrogen fertilization and top removal. Bioenerg Res 5:86–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. FAOSTAT data (2013) http://faostat.fao.org. Accessed 25 July 2013

  9. Hoffman L (2012) Introduction and selection of genotypes of photoperiod sensitive sorghum for agronomic fitness and biomass composition. Dissertation, Texas A&M University

  10. Lynd LR (1996) Overview and evaluation of fuel ethanol from cellulosic biomass: technology, economics, the environment, and policy. Annu Rev Energy Environ 21:403–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Olson SN, Ritter K, Rooney W, Kemanian A, McCarl BA, Zhang Y, Hall S, Mullet J (2012) High biomass yield energy sorghum: developing a genetic model for C4 grass bioenergy crops. Biofuels Bioprod Bioref Biofpr 6:640–655

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Perlack RD, Wright LL, Turhollow AF, Graham RL, Stokes BJ, Erbach DC (2005) Biomass as feedstock for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry: the technical feasibility of a billion-ton annual supply. DOE/GO-102995-2135 or ORNL/TM-2005/66. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge. 60 pp

  13. Porter KS, Axtell JD, Lechtenberg VL, Colenbrander VF (1978) Phenotype, fiber composition, and in vitro dry matter disappearance of chemically induced brown midrib (bmr) mutants of sorghum. Crop Sci 18:205–208

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. http://prism.oregonstate.edu. Accessed 20 Dec 2013

  15. Renewable Fuels Association (2012) Historic U.S. fuel ethanol production. http://www.ethanolrfa.org/pages/statistics. Accessed 18 Oct 2013

  16. Rooney WL, Aydin S (1999) Genetic control of a photoperiod-sensitive response in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Crop Sci 39:397–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Rooney WL, Blumenthal J, Bean B, Mullet JE (2007) Designing sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock. Biofpr 1:147–157

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. SAS Institute (2011) The SAS system for windows. Release 9.3. SAS Inst, Cary

    Google Scholar 

  19. Snider JL, Raper RL, Schwab EB (2012) The effect of row spacing and seeding rate on biomass production and plant stand characteristics of non-irrigated photoperiod-sensitive sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). Ind Crop Prod 37:527–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Sorghum Checkoff (2013) Sorghum markets: biofuels. http://sorghumcheckoff.com/sorghum-markets/biofuels/. Accessed 18 Oct 2013

  21. Tukey JW (1949) Comparing individual means in the analysis of variance. Biometrics 5:99–114

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wang D, Bean S, McLaren J, Seib P, Madl R, Tuinstra M, Shi Y, Lenz M, Wu X, Zhao R (2008) Grain sorghum is a viable feedstock for ethanol production. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 35:313–320

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Yan W, Tinker NA (2006) Biplot analysis of multi-environment trial data: principles and applications. Can J Plant Sci 86:623–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Biomass Feedstock Partnership (Prime Award No. DE-FC36-05GO85041). The authors would like to thank the graduate students and technicians who assisted with the research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, 2474 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    John R. Gill & William L. Rooney

  2. Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, AW-101 Turner Hall, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Payne S. Burks

  3. Chromatin, Inc., 8509 Venita Ave., Lubbock, TX, 79424, USA

    Scott A. Staggenborg

  4. Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Texas A&M University, 10345 State Hwy. 44, Corpus Christi, TX, 78406, USA

    Gary N. Odvody

  5. Vernon G. James Research and Extension Center, North Carolina State University, 207 Research Station Rd., Plymouth, NC, 27962, USA

    Ron W. Heiniger

  6. Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center, Mississippi State University, 1320 Seven Springs Rd., Raymond, MS, 39154, USA

    Bisoondat Macoon

  7. Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, 1571 Agronomy Hall, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Ken J. Moore

  8. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Plant Science Building, 1405 Veterans Dr., Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Michael Barrett

Authors
  1. John R. Gill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Payne S. Burks
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Scott A. Staggenborg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gary N. Odvody
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ron W. Heiniger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Bisoondat Macoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ken J. Moore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Michael Barrett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. William L. Rooney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John R. Gill.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gill, J.R., Burks, P.S., Staggenborg, S.A. et al. Yield Results and Stability Analysis from the Sorghum Regional Biomass Feedstock Trial. Bioenerg. Res. 7, 1026–1034 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9445-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9445-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation