Abstract

Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a C₄ plant characterized by a high photosynthetic efficiency and a high biomass- and sugar- yielding crop. However, the current varieties of sweet sorghum cannot meet the rapid growth demand for bio-ethanol production because of its low sugar content in China. To breed novel varieties to provide excellent raw materials for bio-ethanol production, the dry seeds were irradiated by carbon ion beam irradiation with different doses in sweet sorghum, resulting in acquiring an early-maturity mutant at 80 Gy dose, which the growth period was stably shortened for around 20 days compared to wild-type plant. In this paper, we briefly summarized the biological effects induced by carbon ion beam, the characters of early-maturity mutant, and revealed corresponding mechanisms from the point of view of morphological, physiological and molecular levels. In conclusion, there were significant effects on sweet sorghum irradiated by carbon ion beam.

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