Bio-ethanol production from sweet Sorghum varieties under different Establishment methods
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a biofuel crop which
can be grown year round without sacrificing food and fodder security. A field
experiment entitled “Bio-ethanol production from sweet sorghum varieties under
different establishment methods” was conducted at the Instructional-cum-Research
Farm of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during two consecutive rabi seasons of
2018-19 and 2019-2020 with a view to evaluate the performance of different sweet
sorghum varieties under different methods of establishments for ethanol production .
The treatments consisted of four levels of sweet sorghum varieties viz., V1 - SSV 84,
V2 - ICSV 93046, V3 - Madhura and V4 - CSH 22SS and three levels of establishment
methods viz., M1- Direct sowing, M2 - Transplanting, M3 – System of Sorghum
Intensification (SSI), laid out in a factorial randomised block design and were replicated
thrice. The soil of the experimental site was sandy loam in texture, acidic in reaction
(pH 5.25), medium in organic carbon (0.65%), available N (228.14 kg/ha), available
P2O5 (21.20 kg/ha) and available K2O (125.75 kg/ha).
The results from two year trial indicated that out of four sweet sorghum
varieties evaluated, sweet sorghum variety CSH 22SS outperformed well in terms of
growth attributes (plant height, no. of leaves plant-1, stem weight, stem girth, millable
cane yield, total biomass) during both the years of experimentation. In case of ethanol
attributes viz. brix, sucrose, reducing and total sugars were significantly higher in CSH
22SS for both the year 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively. The CSH 22SS has also
shown its superiority in achieving higher yield attributing parameters such as length
and weight of earhead. The CSH 22SS had resulted significantly highest grain yield of
1.97 t ha-1 and stover yield of 4.48 t ha-1 when pooled for two years. Pooled analysis of
juice yield (9262.66 l ha-1) and ethanol yield (646.89 l ha-1) were found to be
significantly affected by the CSH 22SS. In case of nutrient content and uptake by grain
and stover of sweet sorghum, highest values were recorded in CSH 22SS for both the
years.
Different establishment methods brought about significant differences
in growth parameters, ethanol attributing parameters, yield attributing characters, yield,
N, P and K uptake in sweet sorghum. The highest values in all such aspects as well total
return and B: C ratio was recorded in SSI followed by transplanting method. Among the methods of establishment, the SSI resulted in significantly higher growth characters,
ethanol attributes, yield attributing characters. The SSI recorded the highest pooled
juice yield, ethanol yield, grain yield and straw yield of 8698.16 l ha-1, 614.50 l ha-1,
2.04 t ha-1 and 4.48 t ha-1 of sweet sorghum respectively. Also NPK uptake by grain
and stover were significantly higher in SSI for both the years.
In terms of economics, maximum mean gross return of Rs. 111088.50
ha-1, net return of Rs. 77482.53 ha-1 and B:C ratio of 3.29 was recorded in the CSH
22SS among the different variety treatments. The SSI method of establishment recorded
maximum mean gross return of Rs. 112045.40 ha-1, net return of Rs. 77705.36 ha-1 and
B:C ratio of 3.26 in sweet sorghum.
The interaction effect of sweet sorghum varieties and methods of
establishment were found to be significant in case of pooled juice yield (10879.33 l ha-
1) and ethanol yield (784.11 l ha-1) by V4M3 i.e. CSH 22SS in combination with SSI
method of establishment. The economic returns viz. the maximum mean gross returns
(Rs. 121611.40 ha-1), net returns (87221.37 ha-1) and B:C ratio (3.53) were also
recorded in the V4M3. It could be concluded that for obtaining the highest millable cane
yield and ethanol yield and thereby maximum economic returns, sweet sorghum hybrid,
viz. CSH 22SS should be grown using SSI as the method of establishment.