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Effects of Growing Location and Irrigation on Attributes and Ethanol Yields of Selected Grain Sorghums¹

¹Contribution No. 08-330-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, KS 66506.²Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.³USDA-ARS Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, KS 66502. Names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by the USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.⁴Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.⁵StrathKirn, Inc., Chesterfield, MO 67108.⁶Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506.⁷Monsanto, 7159 N. 247th West, Mt. Hope, KS 67108.⁸Corresponding author. Phone: 785-5322919. Fax: 785-5325825. E-mail address: dwang@ksu.edu

Nine sorghum cultivars (five inbred lines and four hybrids) were grown in 2006 in three locations (Mount Hope, KS, Halstead, KS, and Plainview, TX) under different irrigation conditions and were evaluated for composition and ethanol fermentation efficiency. The objective was to study, in one growing season, the effects of genotype, growing location, and irrigation on the physical and chemical properties and fermentation efficiencies of grain sorghum. Genotype had a significant effect on chemical composition, physical properties, and ethanol yield. The cultivars showed a large variation in starch (61.0–74.8%), protein (7.56–16.35%), crude fat (2.79–4.77%), crude fiber (0.58–2.57%), ash (1.25–2.26%), kernel weight (20.0–35.9 mg), kernel hardness (49.6–97.5), and kernel size (1.9–2.7 mm) and were the most important factors affecting ethanol fermentation efficiency (87.5–93.9%). Starch and protein contents were significantly affected by growing location but not by irrigation. Environment had a significant effect on ethanol yields. Unexpectedly, irrigation somewhat reduced fermentation efficiency.