Journal of Energy Bioscience 2024, Vol.15, No.6, 358-367 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/jeb 359 2 Characteristics of Sorghum Relevant to Bioenergy 2.1 High biomass production and adaptability Sorghum is regarded as a very suitable crop for bioenergy due to its high biomass. Even on marginal land with relatively low input, it can grow well and has a relatively high yield. This is one of its major advantages. Sorghum has many types of genes and its genomic structure is relatively simple, so it is more convenient to conduct research and breeding. Especially in terms of improving its traits related to biomass such as plant height, internode shape, and carbohydrate metabolism, the progress has been faster (Figure 1) (Yang et al., 2023). Sorghum has a relatively long growth period, which enables its root system to continuously grow downward and also allows for the sustained accumulation of biomass. This is particularly important for the development of stable and sustainable bioenergy (Lamb et al., 2021). Figure 1 A diagram to summarize the biomass-related traits in sorghum, the current knowledge regarding the genetic control of these traits and possible genetic approaches to enhance the biomass traits (Adopted from Yang et al., 2023) Image caption: The traits are categorized into several groups: plant height, flowering/maturity, internode morphology (i.e., internode number, internode length, internode diameter), internode composition (including both lignocellulosic metabolism and sugar/starch metabolism), stem juiciness, and tillering. These genes have been previously reported to regulate or be associated with these traits. Sorghum varieties with excellent bioenergy performance could be accurately designed by pyramiding the superior alleles of important genes and genetic loci (Adopted from Yang et al., 2023) 2.2 Efficient water and nutrient use Sorghum is particularly efficient in terms of water usage and nutrient absorption, which is very important for areas with limited water resources, especially when it is used to grow bioenergy crops. Studies have found that sorghum has a relatively high nitrogen fertilizer utilization efficiency, and its roots can grow to deeper parts of the soil, thus enabling it to absorb more deep water and nutrients (Lamb et al., 2021). This deep root can also help plants grow better, reduce the loss of nutrients at the same time, and is beneficial to the soil as well. The water use efficiency (WUE) of sorghum is similar to that of corn, which indicates that it is also very suitable for the production of bioenergy in arid areas (Roby et al., 2017). 2.3 Tolerance to abiotic stresses One of the most famous aspects of sorghum is that it can withstand environmental pressures such as drought and salinity. This mainly comes from its genes and some physiological adaptations. For example, it can regulate water evaporation when the air is dry (with a high vapor pressure difference), and can continue to grow when there is a lack of water (Truong et al., 2017). Sorghum can also adapt to saline-alkali soil, which enables it to be grown on
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