Sweet Sorghum: Breeding and Bioproducts - Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts - page 5

Sweet Sorghum Distribution and Climatic Conditions

In simple terms, wherever sorghum is currently grown, sweet sorghum can also be
cultivated commercially. Thousands of hectares are grown with sweet sorghum for
biofuels production in Brazil, China, and the USA, while in the Philippines, it is
grown for vinegar synthesis, and considerable areas in India, the USA, Indonesia,
West Asia, and North Africa go for fodder production. In Western and Southern
Africa, it is widely used for chewing purposes and local beverage production. This
feedstock is well adapted to the SAT and is one of the most efficient dryland crops
in converting atmospheric CO 2 into sugar [ 3 ]. The crop can be grown in a wide
range of climatic conditions as given below.

Latitude

Sweet sorghum can be grown between 40 N and 40 S latitude on either side of the
equator.

Altitude

Sorghum can be found at elevations between sea level and 1,500 m asl. Most East
African sorghum is grown between the altitudes of 900-1,500 m, and cold-tolerant
varieties are grown between 1,600 and 2,500 m in Mexico.

Environmental Conditions

Sweet sorghum can be grown in the temperature range of 12-37 C. The optimum
temperatures for growth and photosynthesis are 32-34 C, day length is 10-14 h,
optimum rainfall 550-800 mm, and relative humidity between 15 and 50 %.
However, the lower the diurnal and nocturnal temperature differential, the less
stalk sugar accumulation observed is in tropical sweet sorghums.

Soil Conditions

Alfisols (red) or vertisols (black clay loamy) with pH 6.5-7.5, organic matter
> 0.6 %, soil depth 80 cm, soil bulk density 1.4 gcc, water holding capacity

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