CABBI researchers find energy sorghum behaves like miscanthus

In Illinois, a study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) found that energy sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) behaves more like miscanthus in the way it efficiently captures light and uses water to produce abundant biomass. It has higher nitrogen emissions like maize, but researchers believe careful fertilizer management could reduce those levels.

The study, published in Global Change Biology: Bioenergy, offers an important first look at how energy sorghum compares to maize and miscanthus grown in the Midwest, providing critical data for biogeochemical and ecological models used to forecast crop growth, productivity, and sustainability.