Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, India.
Department of Seed Science and Technology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, India.
Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2290:253-270. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1323-8_17.
Sorghum is a versatile crop cultivated since time immemorial. It fulfills the basic needs of mankind in the contest of food, feed, fodder, nutrition, and pharmaceutical uses. Now it adds one more paramount importance as a second-generation biofuel. It offers ethanol from grain, stem (sweet sorghum), and biomass (lignocellulose), and the previous one is discouraging because of food versus fuel conflict. However sorghum lignocellulosic biofuel are gaining momentum in order to conserve nature from depleting first-generation fuel. This chapter describes interdisciplinary approaches/methods involving understanding the genetics of biofuel traits, formulating suitable breeding strategies and seed enhancement techniques to achieve higher productivity in marginal lands in order to avoid food vs. fuel conflict, and finally realization of bioethanol by involving bioengineering process. Many reviews, worldwide researches, and policy papers accepted that sorghum has tremendous potential to be used as a crop of biofuel production.
高粱是一种自古以来就被广泛种植的作物。它在满足人类的食物、饲料、草料、营养和药用需求方面发挥了重要作用。现在，它又增添了一个新的重要功能，即成为第二代生物燃料。它可以从谷物、茎（甜高粱）和生物质（木质纤维素）中提取乙醇，而前一种方法由于粮食与燃料的冲突而受到阻碍。然而，为了保护自然免受第一代燃料的消耗，高粱木质纤维素生物燃料正在获得动力。本章介绍了涉及生物燃料特性遗传理解、制定合适的育种策略和种子增强技术的跨学科方法，以实现边际土地的更高生产力，从而避免粮食与燃料的冲突，最终通过生物工程过程实现生物乙醇的生产。许多评论、全球研究和政策文件都认为，高粱具有巨大的潜力，可以作为生物燃料生产的作物。
