2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved. Sorghum plays an important role in the development and evolution of dedicated energy crops. This chapter focuses on sorghum growth and development, composition, relevant production issues and genetic improvement approaches. As an energy crop, sorghum is unique in that there are several types of sorghum that are and can be used for biofuel or bioproduct production, with the defining factor in these crops being the primary source of fermentable carbohydrates. The successful breeding history of grain and forage sorghum demonstrates that biomass and sweet sorghum hybrids can be developed using the same approaches. The genetic resources available to sorghum breeders, contained in both the currently utilized breeding germplasm, as well as the extensive public germplasm collections, represent a rich repository of genetic variation, which is necessary for breeding progress.
