Objective - ESTIMATE THE POTENTIAL OF SWEET SORGHUM FOR BIOMASS PRODUCTION (ESP ETHANOL) UNDER EUROPEAN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. - SELECTION OF HYBRIDS SUITABLE FOR PRODUCTION OF BIOMASS IN REGARD TO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. APPROACH: YIELD TRIALS WITH DIFFERENT SWEETSORGHUM-HYBRIDS AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AND VARYING AGRONOMIC CONDITIONS. Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolour L (saccharatum)) could serve as an alternative crop producing high yields of renewable energy. It could be used either to produce ethanol or sugar syrup for industrial purposes. Over 3 years, experimental hybrids of sweet sorghum were tested in 5 locations in Western Europe, to identify the adaptation of the available plant materials to the test areas. The experiments showed that in climatically suitable conditions top yielding varieties had the potential of more than 30 t/ha of dry matter and sugar yield exceeded 10 t/ha, while the sugar content generally stayed under 10%. The material tested so far is quite vulnerable to cold weather and lodging. This leads to large differences between the characters of single varieties from one location to the next in many cases. Results thus are very difficult to interpret.LOCATIONS: TOTAL SIX: MONSELICE (ITALY); LE FAYEL (FRANCE); TULLN (AUSTRIA); WUERZBURG, MANNHEIM AND PLATTLING (BR DEUTSCHLAND). HYBRIDS: TOTAL OF ABOUT 14 HARVEST TIME: TWO DIFFERENT DATES POPULATION - DENSITY: HIGH DENSITY: ABOUT 13 PLANTS/M2. LOW DENSITY: ABOUT 9 PLANTS/M2. (VARIATION OF DIFFERENT POPULATION DENSITIES ARE PLANNED ONLY FOR A PART OF HYBRIDS). REPLICATIONS: TWO PLOT SIZE: ABOUT 8,1 M2 NUMBER OF PLOTS REQUIRED: ABOUT 400. CHARACTERS TO BE RECORDED: BEFORE HARVEST: EMERGENCE, ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUNG PLANTS, PLANT HEIGHT, LODGEING, HEALTH, TIME OF FLOWERING AND OTHERS. AFTER HARVEST: FRESH MATTER; SUGAR CONTENT: SACCAROSE, FRUCTOSE, GLUCOSE AND HIGHER SUGARS; FIBER CONTENT; DRY MATTER CONTENT; ETHANOL YIELD; POSSIBLE GRAIN YIELD/STARCH YIELD. SEED PRODUCTION: PRODUCTION OF HYBRID SEED FOR ABOUT 14 TESTHYBRIDS IN ITALY: - POLLINATION OF ABOUT 300 MALE STERILE " TESTER-PLANTS " (ABOUT 20 OF EACH HYBRID). - HARVEST AND PROCESSING OF SEED - SELECTION OF SUITABLE SEEDPARENT- AND POLLINATOR-LINES. Fields of science engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibersengineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energyagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedsnatural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcoholsagricultural sciencesagricultural biotechnologybiomass Programme(s) FP1-ENNONUC 3C - Research and development programme (EEC) in the field of Non-Nuclear Energy, 1985-1988 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator KWS Kleinwanzlebener Saatzucht AG Address Grimsehlstraße 31 37574 Einbeck Germany See on map EU contribution € 0,00
