Sweet Sorghum (Jowar)

• Context (DTE): Sweet sorghum, indigenous to Africa, is a promising biofuel crop.

Biofuel Crops

• They are rich in starch, sugar, or oils. It can be converted into bioethanol (fermentation process).
  • Bioethanol is ethanol produced from biological or plant-based sources. It emits fewer greenhouse gases than fossil fuels.
• Common biofuel crops: Sugarcane, maize, grain sorghum, sugar beet, rapeseeds, and sunflower.

Drawbacks of Conventional Biofuel Crops

• Susceptible to extreme weather events.
• Require high investment for fertilisers, chemicals, and irrigation.
• Compete with food production.

Potential of Sweet Sorghum

• It contains sucrose, glucose and fructose, which are essential for bioethanol production.
• Multiple uses
  • It can produce grains, animal feed and sugary juice, making it unique among crops.
  • Grains are used for Steamed bread, Porridge malt for traditional commercial beer production.
  • They’re nutritionally rich, with high energy values, as well as essential minerals.
• Advantages Over Maize
  • Resilient in arid climates.
  • Provides biomass for animal feed. Nutritional residue after harvest enhances animal diets.
  • Yields 8,102 litres of bioethanol per hectare (vs. maize’s 4,209 litres).
• Resilience
  • Drought-resistant: can enter dormancy and resume growth.
  • Uses stalk juice to survive water scarcity.
  • Tolerates low water, nitrogen inputs, salinity, and drought.

To learn more, visit Biofuels.

Sweet Sorghum (Jowar) It is the most important millet crop. It is a C4 plant characterised by high photosynthetic efficiency. C4 plants include maize, sugarcane, and sorghum. They avoid photorespiration. It has emerged as a supplementary crop to sugarcane in dry land pockets for the production of ethanol. Varieties Rio, Dale, Brandes, Theis, Roma, Vani, Ramada and Keller. In India, it can be sown during June, coinciding with the southwest monsoon. The crop does not prefer high rainfall as high soil moisture after flowering may hamper sugar increase. All soils that have medium depth with good drainage are suited. Major pests: Sorghum shootfly and stem borer. Sweet sorghum varieties were first introduced in India from the US in the 1970s. Credit: Agrosiaa