Abstract

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) crop is considered to be a promising bio-ethanol crop and it has higher tolerance to salt and drought compared to sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and corn (Zea mays) that are currently used for bio-fuel production around the world. In addition, high carbohydrate content of sweet sorghum stalk is similar to sugarcane but its water and fertilizer requirements are lower than sugarcane. A field experiment was conducted to determine the response of sweet sorghum to different N: P: K doses in this agro-climatic region. The experiment was conducted at the Sub-divisional Adaptive Research Farm (SARF) located at Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal (175 km away from Kolkata) in the year 2012–13. Randomized block design (RBD) was used for the experiment. The total number of treatment combinations was 32 (N4 × P2 × K4) replicated thrice and total number of plots was 96. Data were collected at 30 days interval starting from 40 to 130 days after sowing (DAS). The maximum plant height of 237.27 cm was observed in N4P2K4treatment at 130 DAS, maximum green biomass of 40.19 t/ha was observed with N4P2K4 treatment at 100 DAS, maximum sugar concentration of 9.68% was observed with N4P2K4 treatment at 100 DAS and maximum sugar yield of 3888.24 kg/ha was observed with N4P2K4 at 100 DAS. Harvesting at 130 to 140 DAS might be suitable for sweet sorghum for this agro-climatic zone of West Bengal.