BIOMASS AND BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION POTENTIALS OF SWEET SORGHUM UNDER ADANA CONDITIONS

Abstract

The research was carried out to determine the potential of biomass and bio-ethanol production of different sweet sorghum genotypes under Adana Conditions. Twenty-one sweet sorghum genotypes obtained from domestic and foreign sources were used experimental material. The field experiment was conducted in the experimental area of the Eastern Mediterranean Agricultural Research Institute, Adana -Turkey in second crop condition in 2016 and 2017. Each genotype was sown in 4 rows with 5 m length and 0.7 m apart according to randomized complete block design with four replications. In the research, agronomic traits were determined on 10 randomly selected plants of each genotype. According to the two years averaged values, days after sowing, plant height, biomass yield, stalk yield, juice yield, brix, and theoretical ethanol yield ranged from 98.1 to134.4 days, 232.2 to 429.3 cm, 83.4 to 214.9 t ha-1, 69 to 183 t ha-1, 23 to 63 m3 ha-1, 15.50 to 20.00 %, and 2020 to 5300 L ha-1, respectively. From the results of the research, it was concluded that sweet sorghum could be successfully grown for biomass or bio-ethanol production as second crop under Adana Conditions.