Effect of Plant Density on Sweet and Biomass Sorghum Production on Semiarid Marginal Land
2018
Tang, Chaochen | Sun, Chuandong | Du, Fu | Chen, Feng | Ameen, Asif | Fu, Tongcheng | Xie, Guanghui
Plant density substantially affects sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) productivity. Therefore, density optimisation plays a pivotal role in crop management practices. A 2-year field experiment was conducted on sandy loam marginal land in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China, to (1) determine the mechanism underlying the impact of plant density (i.e. 6.0, 7.5, 9.0, 10.5 and 12.0 plant m⁻²) on biomass yield, quality and photosynthetic efficiency and (2) determine the optimum plant density for sweet sorghum variety GT-3 and biomass sorghum variety GN-4. Results indicate that plant height, leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD) and biomass yield increased as plant density increased, but tiller number, stem diameter and net assimilation rate (NAR) decreased. The growth period between elongation and anthesis dates was crucial to sorghum productivity; during this period, LAD was the determining factor for biomass yield. Increase in plant density up to 10.5 plant m⁻² led to a high LAI level, an extended LAD, a high and stable NAR and a positive balance between photosynthesis and respiration processes, all of which contributed to highest biomass yield (13.2 t ha⁻¹). Ultimately, sweet-type variety GT-3 demonstrated the highest theoretical ethanol yield (4147 L ha⁻¹) and relative feed value (112.3%) compared with biomass-type variety GN-4.
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