Possibilities of sweet sorghum production on a salt effected soil
Introduction According to the soil survey by Szabolcs, (1971) and Várallyay et al. (1979, 1980) the salt affected soils cover about 1 million hectares in Hungary. Salt affected soils (SAS) with structural B-horizon (meadow solonetz soils) represent the most widely spread group of SAS in Hungary. About 40-50 percent of these soils have been reclaimed and used as arable land until now. Bio-energy might offer an alternative land use of the territories covered by soils with different problems. The European Union aims at replacing 20% of the fossil energy in the transport sector by 2020 with renewable fuels (EC Green Paper, 2000). The territories with good soils are very limited and bio-energy production can reduce the territories for food production, that is why it is very important to investigate the production possibilities of energy crops on marginal soils. Sorghum seems to be a promising energy crop on SAS, because it can tolerate some salt content in the soil, and there were positive experiences with producing the different sorghum hybrids on heavy clay soils, and salt affected soils (Bocskai, 1968; Halász, 1968). In the Karcag Research Institute sorghum was introduced as an alcohol source by Kapocsi et al. (1984), Blaskó et al (2006).