Agro-energy efforts & progress at UF-IFAS

Hastings Partnership - 2008

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 - 40,000 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 stageCultivar 67 lbs N/acre 112 lbs N/acre 150 lbs N/acre

SX-17 242 373 373

NK300 798 1026 1218

WGF 308 353 238

M81E 2458 3770 4778Dale 1940 2594 2535

Not topped to prevent bloom development –soft doughCultivar 67 lbs N/acre 112 lbs N/acre 150 lbs N/acre

SX-17 431 514 690

NK300 1328 1410 1321

WGF 155 308 182

M81E 4138 5503 6000Dale 3737 4571 4479

Soft dough stage -not topped to prevent bloom dev.Cultivar 67 lbs N/acre 112 lbs N/acre 150 lbs N/acre

SX-17 431 514 690

NK300 1328 1410 1321

WGF 155 308 182

M81E 4138 5503 6000Dale 3737 4571 4479

Hard dough stage - not topped to prevent bloom dev.Cultivar 67 lbs N/acre 112 lbs N/acre 150 lbs N/acre

SX-17 na na na

NK300 335 315 224

WGF 132 125 68

M81E 4236 6558 4973Dale 4025 4327 5391

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. 2006. Designing sorghum as a dedicated bioenergy crop. Texas A&M University.