Valorization of different landrace and commercial sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) straw varieties by anaerobic digestion

Abstract To reduce the impact on the environment and enhance the sustainability of resources, it is necessary to promote and strengthen the use of landrace cultivars that advocate regenerative agriculture. In this study, the growth and development as well as the anaerobic digestion (AD) of six different landrace cultivars, two commercial hybrids cultivars and a public genotype of Sorghum bicolor have been evaluated. The landrace cultivars, in general, presented greater heights, biomass yields and compactness shoots as well as similar or an improvement in grain production compare to the commercial varieties. The AD of the different sorghum straws was performed in batch mode at mesophilic temperature (35°C). The landrace cultivar Zahina (ZH) obtained the highest final methane yield (413 ± 79 NL CH4 kg−1 VS, volatile solids) but the landrace cultivars Zahina gigante (ZHG) and Trigomillo (TG) were the ones that obtained the highest methane per biomass production (13.7 and 12.7 NL CH4 shoot unit−1, respectively). By contrast, the commercial varieties were the ones that obtained the lowest methane yields. Two mathematical models, first‐order kinetics and the Transference Function model, were used to fit the experimental data with the aim of describing and simulating the anaerobic biodegradation of these S. bicolor straw varieties and obtaining the kinetic constants. Both models allowed for adequately fitting the experimental results of methane production with time. In particular, the fastest biomethanization occurred using the commercial variety PR88Y20 (PR88) (specific rate constant k = 0.148 ± 0.008 days−1), while the slowest one was obtained from Panizo (PAN) variety (k = 0.064 ± 0.005 days−1). In addition, the highest values of the maximum methane production rate, Rm, were attained for the varieties ZH and PR88, which were 87.1% and 71.3% higher than that achieved for the PAN variety, which exhibited the lowest value.