U.S. scientists develop drought-tolerant sorghum for biofuels

In order to diversify the portfolio of crops grown for the production of biomass and biofuels, scientists at the Texas A&M University's Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) are breeding a drought tolerant sorghum that may yield between 37 and 50 tons of dry biomass per hectare (15 to 20 tons per acre).

The U.S. has the technical potential to produce about 1.3 billion tons of lignocellulosic biomass that could supply 30 percent or more of the U.S. transportation fuel requirements. But in order to turn this technical potential into real production, new crops are needed and so-called 'second generation' conversion technologies must become competitive. These technologies include the transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into liquids via biochemical and thermochemical processes. Such methods have the promise of converting all of the plant material - not just the grain as is the case with the first generation - into biofuels or directly into electricity.

A drought-tolerant sorghum cultivar is seen as one of the most promising biomass crops to this end. The United States currently grows approximately 20 million acres of the plant which could provide 25 percent of the country's long-term goal for biofuels. The prospects for accelerated development of sorghum as a premier source of biofuels are excellent.

Sorghum is a highly diverse grass species originating from Africa and Asia, where it is grown on a large scale, often by subsistence farmers in semi-arid regions such as the Sahel. In the U.S. it is currently grown for grain and forage.

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