Sweet Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)-A New Generation Water Use Efficient Bioenergy Crop Rao P. Srinivasa1, Prasad J.V.N.S.2, Umakanth A.V.3, Reddy Belum V.S. 1International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. Email: p.srinivasarao@cgiar.org 2Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad-500 059 3Directorate of Sorghum Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500 030 Online published on 22 July, 2013. Abstract Biofuels have been widely recognized as a best alternative to insulate emerging economies against fastly depleting fossil fuels coupled with highly volatile prices. Sweet sorghum is a multipurpose bioethanol feedstock with greater adaptability with triple benefits (food, fodder and fuel) and cannot be part of much debated food vs. fuel issue. This article gives a brief overview of research results on water use and water use efficiency of sweet sorghum, a new generation bioenergy crop. This feedstock performs superior at many locations in terms of resource use efficiency vis a vis sugarcane, corn and tropical sugar beet and scores fairly well for adaptation to dry land conditions due to its inherent characteristics. Top Keywords bioenergy, bioethanol, sweet sorghum, water use, water use efficiency, adaptability. Top |