Food Security Evaluation of Grain and Sugar Yields of Improved Sweet Sorghum Varieties for Sustainable Renewable Energy Supply Using Matrix Correlation

摘要

Present paper aims to food security evaluation of grain and sugar yields of improved sweet sorghum varieties for sustainable renewable energy supply using matrix correlation. As part of research towards ensuring food security and ethanol production for sustainable renewable energy supply in Ghana, field trials were conducted to evaluate the grain yield, brix percentage (sugar content) yield and other agronomic parameters of eighteen (18) improved sweet sorghum lines and two local varieties in the Guinea-Savanna zone of Ghana, where the crop is mainly grown as a staple. The improved sorghum varieties were obtained from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India; Ethiopia, France, and Institute for Energy Research (IER), Mali and Nicaragua whereas the local varieties were obtained from the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana. The grain yield ranged between 50 - 632 kg/ha. Two sorghum varieties, ICSR 93034 and 104 GRD had the best grain yield. Generally, the brix percentage of stalk juice were between (6.2 - 21.4 %) and ten (10) improved sweet sorghum lines 35127-1-1, 36461-2, IS 23525, IS 23541, IS 23555, IS 23562, IS 23563, IS 23566-1, IS 23566-2 and IS 23574 recorded the best stalk yield and brix % (sugar content) throughout the physiological stages of growth. Generally the sugar content in the stalk juice was lower at the early, mid and late booting stages of physiological growth but increased steadily at the flowering stage and highest during the hard dough stage. On the other hand, the sorghum lines, IS 23562 and IS 23574 showed outstanding performances in terms of both grain and sugar yield and could be suitable varieties for dual-purpose. More also there was correlation (p < 0.05) between all traits measured. It is therefore, concluded that marker-assisted selection could be used to breed for sweet sorghum cultivars in the savannah agro-ecological zones of Northern Ghana to improve grain yields and bio-fuel production.