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Pak. J. Bot., 47(6): 2401-2408, 2015.

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BIOMASS AND BIOGAS YIELDING POTENTIAL OF SORGHUM AS AFFECTED BY PLANTING DENSITY, SOWING TIME AND CULTIVAR

ATHAR MAHMOOD^1,4*, ABRAR HUSSAIN², AHMED NAEEM SHAHZAD³, AND BERND HONERMEIER⁴

¹Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan

²Department of Bioscience, COMSATS institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal, Pakistan

³Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya, University, Multan, Pakistan

⁴Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding I, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany

^*Corresponding author e-mail: athar_1012@yahoo.com

Abstract: Biogas from biomass is a promising renewable energy source whose importance is increasing in European as well as in other countries. A field experiment at one location (Experimental Station Giessen, Justus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany) over two years was designed to study the effect of altering sowing time (ST), planting density and cultivar on the biomass yield and chemical composition of biomass sorghum, and its potential for methane production. Of the two cultivars tested, cv. Goliath (intraspecific hybrid) was more productive with respect to biomass yield than cv. Bovital (S. bicolor x S. sudanense hybrid). ST also influenced biomass yield and most of the quality parameters measured. Delayed sowing was in general advantageous. The choice of cultivar had a marked effect on biogas and methane yield. The highest biogas and methane yields were produced by late sown cv. Bovital. Sub-optimal planting densities limited biomass accumulation of the crop, however neither the chemical composition nor the methane yield was affected by planting density.

Key words: Sowing date; Planting density; Biomass yield; Protein content; Fibre content; Methane production.