Plants population and harvesting times influence in saccharine sorghum BRS 506 production

Abstract

Saccharine sorghum is an excellent option for ethanol production under industrial and agronomic perspectives, due to high green matter production and succulent stalks with fermentable sugars. The aim of this work was to evaluate the harvesting season and plants population effect over the ethanol and fodder production from sweet sorghum culture BRS 506. The experiment was installed in November 2012, at (CDTCA/UFLA), located in Lavras (MG). The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with 3 repetitions, factorial scheme 4 x 4 (4 populations: 70, 100, 130 and 160 thousand plants ha-1 ; 4 harvesting seasons: flowering (0 days after flowering (DAF), 10 DAF, 20 DAF and physiological maturity at 40 DAF). The variables evaluated at harvesting: green matter weight (GM), dry matter weight (DM), juice volume (JV), total soluble solids (ºbrix), total reducing sugars (TRS) and brix tonnes per hectare (TBH). The populations increase provided the highest JV and it has not affected other variables. The characteristics were influenced by the harvesting seasons. The harvesting season at 40 DAF provided the highest ºbrix. The ºbrix and the TRS showed linear growth with an increase after flowering for plants harvesting. The highest productivities (GM, DM, JV and TBH) were obtained close to 17, 22, 17 and 14 DAF, respectively, favoring higher fodder and ethanol production in these stages.