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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306957
Title: Impact of deficit irrigation on sorghum physical and chemical properties and ethanol yield

Author
item LIU, LIMAN - Kansas State University
item MAIER, ANNE - Kansas State University
item KLOCKE, NORMAN - Kansas State University
item YAN, SHUPING - Kansas State University
item ROGERS, DANNY - Kansas State University
item TESSO, TESFAYE - Kansas State University
item WANG, DONGHAI - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2013
Publication Date: 7/2/2013
Citation: Liu, L., Maier, A., Klocke, N.L., Yan, S., Rogers, D.H., Tesso, T., Wang, D. 2013. Impact of deficit irrigation on sorghum physical and chemical properties and ethanol yield. Transactions of the ASABE. 56(4):1541-1549.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The objective of this research was to study the effect of irrigation levels (five levels from 304.8 to 76.2 mm water) on the physical and chemical properties and ethanol fermentation performance of sorghum. Ten sorghum samples grown under semi-arid climatic conditions were harvested in 2011 from the Kansas State University Southwest Research-Extension Center near Garden City, Kansas, and evaluated. Irrigation had a significant effect on the physical properties, chemical composition, ethanol yield, and fermentation efficiency of sorghum. Sorghum kernel hardness increased and test weight decreased as the irrigation level decreased. Starch contents of sorghum samples grown under a low irrigation level were approximately 7% less than those grown under a high irrigation level. Protein contents ranged from 9.84% to 14.91% and increased as irrigation level decreased. Starch pasting temperature increased significantly, and starch peak pasting viscosity and setback viscosity decreased as the irrigation level decreased. Free amino nitrogen increased significantly as irrigation decreased. Ethanol fermentation efficiency ranged from 90.6% to 91.9% and correlated positively with free amino nitrogen during the first 30 hours of fermentation (R-square = 0.926). Deficit irrigation level had a negative impact on ethanol yield. The sorghum with low irrigation yielded about 8.9% less ethanol (434.52 mL ethanol per kg sorghum) than samples with higher irrigation (473.32 mL ethanol per kg sorghum). Residual starch contents in the distillers dried grains with solubles was less than 1% and ranged from 0.70% to 0.84%.