Рromising sorghum hybrids for solid fuel production

Abstract

Topicality. In Ukraine, up to 5 million hectares of land were removed from agricultural crop rotation. These lands can be successfully used for bioenergy due to soil recultivation. They are represented by both ordinary soils contaminated with heavy metals and completely degraded alumina with high salinity. Issues. The land improvement aims to obtain biomass for the bioenergy industry, also to restore fertility, improve the ecological condition of the man-made region, and create new jobs. With proper use, considering all the above aspects, soils can gradually return to agricultural crop rota-tion. Aim. To study and select an initial material for the development of high-yield hybrids of sugar sorghum and broom millet for solid fuel production. Materials. Variety testing trials on sugar sorghum was carried out at the Synelnykove Breeding and Research Station, where 59 samples were examined, their yield was 23–79 t/ha. Results. We identified the promising hybrid combinations with the highest yield of green mass: F1 (Nyzkorosle 93s x Karlykove 45) – 79.7 t/ha, and F1 (Dn71s x Karlykove 45) – 73.6 t/ha. The yield of samples F1 (Rannie 776s x Karlykove 45) and F1 (Yefremivske bile 2s x Karlykove 45) was slightly less, and amounted to 67.4 and 67.0 t/ha, respectively. According to the grain yield, the best samples were F1 (Nyzkorosle 93s x Karlykove 45) –12.7 t/ha and F1 (A158 x Karlykove 45) – 9.0 t/ha. According to the yield of dry matter of green mass, it was stood out F1 (Yefremivske bile 2c x Karlykove 45) – 34.8 t/ha and F1 (Nyzkorosle 93c x Karlykove 45) – 33.5 t/ha. The highest sugar content was found in F1 (Nyzkorosle 93c x Krasen) – 17.3 %, F1 (Rannie 776s x Krasen) – 16.5 %, and F1 (Yefremivske bile 2c x Karlykove 45) – 16.4 %. The excess over the standard was 18 %. Conclusions. Therefore, high-yielding hybrids of sugar sorghum are the most economical and energetically expedient source of raw materials for the bioenergy industry. It was selected the bioenergy hybrid of F1 (Nizkorosle 93c x Karlykove 45), which favorably differs from the standard in productivity and manufacturability. Also, Karlykove 45 variety was selected as a pollinator for the development of hybrids for solid biofuel. Key words: sugar sorghum, bioenergy, solid fuel, fertile lines, yield, green mass.