Description

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world based on total grain production. It is an essential component of the cropping systems of subsistence farmers and diets of more than 300 millions of people in the semiarid tropics. In addition, it is a relevant candidate as feedstock for the biomass based value chains. Although sorghum is native from North Eastern Africa, it is one of the most promising biomass crops also in temperate regions. It presents a number of advantages that favors its use as biomass crop: high biomass yield potentials (current commercial hybrids reach 25 to 30 t/ha under normal conditions), high drought tolerance and water use efficiency and well established cultural practices. Furthermore, it presents a high potential regarding the expected genetic gains that can be obtained. Published data confirm that sorghum has the potentiality to produce high biomass yield in temperate climates, and particularly in European conditions.

 However several knowledge gaps are still hampering the rapid development of sustainable multipurpose sorghum value chain in the European and Semi arid contexts.

• Firstly, a global understanding of the genetic and ecophysiological bases underlying carbon resources allocation to the different organs and tissues of the sorghum plant is still missing to enhance breeding strategies with respect to biomass production, composition and drought tolerance optimization
• Secondly, socio economic assessment of the relevance of sorghum value chains in the different regional contexts are missing
• Thirdly, development of industrial processes aiming to optimize the use of sorghum for different end-use products is extremely limited.

The BIOSORGH project aimed to tackle these different objectives through the involvement of a multi-disciplinary team (physiologist, ecophysiologists, modeleers, geneticists, breeders, anima nutritionist, material scientists, geomaticians) anchored in the Mediterranean (France, Italy) and west African (Mali) regions.