Abstract
Biomass sorghums [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] are short-day photoperiod sensitive (PS) types, meaning that the crop will grow vegetatively late into the fall season in subtropical and temperate environments. This feature results in high biomass yield potential and mitigates drought susceptibility. The objective of this study is to assess biomass growth patterns and associated changes in composition over a growing season for PS sorghum. The experiment had a split-plot design with two replications, six PS sorghum genotypes, and 13 harvest dates. Harvest started at 60 days after planting (DAP) and continued every 15 days thereafter in both College Station (CS) and Corpus Christi (CC) in Texas, 2010. At each harvest, dry biomass yield, plant height and biomass composition (percent lignin and cellulose) were measured. For all genotypes, biomass accumulation followed a standard growth pattern which included an early lag phase, followed by a log phase of growth and finally, a general reduction in the rate of accumulation. The early lag phase ended at approximately 70 DAP, the log phase of growth ended at approximately 125 DAP, and biomass yields maximized between 180 and 225 DAP. The highest yielding genotype produced 24 Mg ha−1. Plant heights up to 400 cm were also measured between 180 and 225 DAP. Plant height and biomass yield patterns were similar, indicating that height is important to increase yield. Lignin and cellulose concentrations increased with time; at the highest yields (between 180 and 225 DAP), maximum lignin content were 14.5 to 15.5 % and maximum cellulose content was 31 to 32 %. As with yield potential, significant differences were detected for composition as well. The growth curves indicate that PS biomass sorghum yields sufficiently and can be harvested as early as 130 DAP with maximum sorghum biomass accumulation occurring between 180 and 225 days. Thus, with careful selection and deployment of biomass sorghum hybrids, the harvest season of biomass sorghum can be extended over a 3-month period in southern regions of the US
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Rooney WL, Blumenthal J, Bean B, Mullet JE (2007) Designing sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock. Biofuels Bioprod Biorefin 1:147–157
Rooney WL, Aydin S (1999) Genetic Control of a Photoperiod-Sensitive Response in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. Crop Sci 39:397–400
Olson SN, Ritter K, Medley J, Wilson T, Rooney WL, Mullet JE (2013) Energy sorghum hybrids: Functional dynamics of high nitrogen use efficiency. Biomass Bioenergy 56:307–316
Somerville C, Bauer S, Brininstool G, Facette M, Hamann T, Milne J et al (2004) Toward a Systems Approach to Understanding Plant Cell Walls. Science 306:2206–2211
Wu X, McLaren J, Madl R, Wang D (2010) Biofuels from Lignocellulosic Biomass. In: Singh OV (ed) Harvey SP, editors. Springer Netherlands, Sustainable Biotechnology, pp 19–41
Reeves JB (1987) Lignin and fiber compositional changes in forages over a growing season and their effects on in vitro digestibility. J Dairy Sci 70:1583–1594
Pordesimo LO, Hames BR, Sokhansanj S, Edens WC (2005) Variation in corn stover composition and energy content with crop maturity. Biomass Bioenergy 28:366–374
Wolfrum E, Payne C, Stefaniak T, Rooney W, Dighe N, Bean B, et al (2013) Multivariate Calibration Models for Sorghum Composition using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. p. Medium: ED; Size: 14 pp
Woodard KR, Prine GM (1991) Forage yield and nutritive value of elephantgrass as affected by harvest frequency and genotype. Agron J 83:541–546
Ghanbari-Bonjar A, Lee HC (2003) Intercropped wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and bean (Vicia faba L.) as a whole-crop forage: effect of harvest time on forage yield and quality. Grass Forage Sci 58:28–36
Packer DPD (2011) High-biomass sorghums for biomass fuel production. Soil and Crop Sciences. Texas Agric. Mech. Univ, College Station
Stefaniak TR, Dahlberg JA, Bean BW, Dighe N, Wolfrum EJ, Rooney WL (2012) Variation in Biomass Composition Components among Forage, Biomass, Sorghum-Sudangrass, and Sweet Sorghum Types. Crop Sci 52:1949–1954
Lewandowski I, Clifton-Brown JC, Andersson B, Basch G, Christian DG, Jørgensen U et al (2003) Environment and Harvest Time Affects the Combustion Qualities of Miscanthus Genotypes. Agron J 95:1274–1280
Murray SC, Rooney WL, Mitchell SE, Sharma A, Klein PE, Mullet JE et al (2008) Genetic Improvement of Sorghum as a Biofuel Feedstock: II. QTL for Stem and Leaf Structural Carbohydrates All rights reserved. Crop Sci 48:2180–2193
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. Agron J 105:263–267
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by funding from the North Central Regional Sun Grant Center at South Dakota State University through a grant provided by the US Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office under award number DE-FC36-05GO85041.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hoffmann, L., Rooney, W.L. Accumulation of Biomass and Compositional Change Over the Growth Season for Six Photoperiod Sorghum Lines. Bioenerg. Res. 7, 811–815 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-013-9405-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-013-9405-5