Agro-energy efforts & progress at UF-IFAS Hastings Partnership J. Breman, S. Taylor, D. Dinkins, T. Donovan, and E. Redden

Critical Regional Issue –Large vegetable & potato growers need additional revenue stream –County commissioners & engineers need to know if an ethanol plant can be sustained with sufficient biofuel feedstocks in the tri-county region Putnam St. Johns Flagler

Why Sorghum? Already used by farmers in the tri-county area as a cover crop between vegetable seasons: –Estimated 25, ,000 acres –Capture residual nitrogen fertilizer –Protect water quality – Maintain soil organic matter

Potential for Other Uses High yield potential – Ratoon crop possible High water use efficiency Efficient use of nitrogen Multiple use cultivars exist now – Grain – Sugar – Cellulose

Sorghum Biofuel Options Grain (milo) sorghum cultivars –Amylase + yeast = ethanol –By product = ruminant feed (brewers grains)

Sorghum Biofuel Options Syrup (sweet) sorghum cultivars –Sugar extraction + yeast = ethanol –Bagasse by-product burned in boiler or fed into the cellulosic process stream

Sorghum Biofuel Options Forage and day-neutral sorghum cultivars Cellulosic –Lignocellulose + enzymes = sugars –sugars + gmo’s and yeast = ethanol

UF-IFAS Sorghum Research: Belle Glade AREC (Dr. Zane Helsel, visiting) –Sweet sorghum variety trials –Goal is to maximize sugar yield/acre Microbiology Department (Dr. Lonnie Ingram) –Goal is maximize cellulose to sugar conversion using GMO’s (enzymes) Agronomy Department (Dr. Wilfred Vermerris) –Brown midrib mutants for high cellulose digestibility –Inbred lines with high yields of fermentable sugars

Hastings Sugar Research Which Nitrogen rates to apply? Which cultivars to plant? Which stage of growth to harvest? Would topping the plant increase sugar?

Hastings Sugar Yield Research

Hastings Sugar Yield – 2007 Results No significant difference between intermediate & high nitrogen rates M-81E highest sugar yield, Dale second highest sugar yield (interaction-dependent) Stage of growth X nitrogen X cultivar interactions maximized sugar yield Topping did not significantly increase sugar yields

Topped to prevent bloom development – soft dough stage Cultivar67 lbs N/acre112 lbs N/acre150 lbs N/acre SX NK WGF M81E Dale Not topped to prevent bloom development –soft dough Cultivar67 lbs N/acre112 lbs N/acre150 lbs N/acre SX NK WGF M81E Dale

Soft dough stage -not topped to prevent bloom dev. Cultivar67 lbs N/acre112 lbs N/acre150 lbs N/acre SX NK WGF M81E Dale Hard dough stage - not topped to prevent bloom dev. Cultivar67 lbs N/acre112 lbs N/acre150 lbs N/acre SX-17na NK WGF M81E Dale

Hastings Grain Research

Hastings Grain Research – 2007 Results Low N rate = 22 bushels/acre Intermediate N rate = 25 bushels/acre High N rate = 27 bushels/acre

Hastings Additional Research – Sugar Yield in 2008 Nitrogen study following potato harvest Elite breeding lines and collected germplasm (Dr. Vermerris, cooperator) Disease study (Dr. Gevens, cooperator) Commercial planting demonstration

Hastings Additional Research – Grain Yield in 2008 Elite breeding lines and collected germplasm (Dr. Vermerris, cooperator) Commercial planting demonstration

Sorghum Reference: Rooney, W.L Designing sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy crop. Texas A&M University.