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One of the most pressing concerns related to seed supply mechanisms of improved varieties of rainfed crops is how to establish sustainable seed provision systems for commodities that cannot be economically supplied through a centralized, formal seed industry. The seed supply bottleneck primarily affects self-pollinating crop seeds saved and sown year after year in local systems. The restrictions imposed by national seed authorities on free exchange and marketing of seed, especially compulsory variety registration and seed certification, as practiced by many developed and developing countries are constraints on the efficient functioning of the formal seed sector and on the development of alternative seed systems. A good quality and improved variety seed can enhance production by 20% and with improved crop production practices can increase yield by 30–40%. Availability and accessibility to improved variety seed is a big task. Sorghum seed system is very unique in India with contrasting situations and systems. In the case of post-rainy season sorghum cultivated on black soils under residual moisture condition, open-pollinated varieties are the cultivar choice because of stringent quality considerations and lack of appropriate hybrids and inadequate hybrid seed production and supply chain. Ways of strengthening seed systems that could potentially address the needs and counter the vulnerabilities of smallholder farmers in these areas using specific seed delivery models need to be explored. Research and development programs of State Agricultural Universities (SAU) have developed improved varieties and are available in public domain for several years. To augment seed production and for dissemination of improved varieties, “seed consortium” model was developed with various partner institutions like the Department of Agriculture, agriculture universities, seed certification agency, state and national seed development corporations, private seed companies, NGOs, SHGs, and KVKs was brought onto one platform with a basic objective to enhance availability and accessibility of improved variety seed at right time and for right price to increase production and productivity of post-rainy sorghum. The present chapter discusses the successful implementation of seed consortium model to suggest the way forward for developing sustainable seed systems for higher productivity in sorghum.

Interaction of plants with environmental factors and microbial world is a dynamic process. As part of this ever-changing process new disease emerges or minor disease may become major with time. This chapter presents a very brief account of well-studied old diseases of sorghum and emphasizes on emerging diseases with particular reference to India. Description of sorghum diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, and their transmission through seed implies quarantine significance. Thus, awareness about the quarantine pests of different countries is essential for facilitation of smooth germplasm exchange. Diseases distribution, losses, symptomatology, and management options have been discussed in detail. In this chapter, we have generated environmental (ecological) niche model for the pathogens causing sorghum diseases due to fluctuations in environment caused by climate change. Ecological Niche Model using Maxent is a class of method that uses occurrence data in conjunction with environmental parameters to make a correlative model of the environmental conditions that meet pathogens’ ecological requirements and predicts the relative suitability of habitat.

To meet the energy requirement for transport, blending automotive fuels with ethanol has been mandated in India like several other countries across the globe. The entire blending requirement has to come from molasses (by-product of sugarcane). Ethanol produced from molasses will not be able to meet the blending targets due to cyclical nature of sugar cane production resulting in shortage of molasses and its competing uses (potable and pharmaceutical use). This has promoted research efforts to augment energy sources that are sustainable and economically viable. One such source that can be commercially exploited for ethanol production is sweet sorghum. The sugars in the stalks of sweet sorghum can be crushed to produce juice, which can be processed into ethanol for blending. An attempt is made in this paper to assess viability of ethanol production from sweet sorghum. Net Present Value (NPV), the indicator of economic viability assessment, is negative and would thus be difficult for the industry to take off under the current scenario of ethanol price, feedstock price and ethanol recovery rate. Hence, an enabling environment and policy support for bio-ethanol production from sweet sorghum is crucial to meet future blending requirements.

The paucity of information on the moulds in Indian pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) led to the studies that were conducted at ICRISAT, India to evaluate (a) 447 germplasm accessions of 32 countries for mould reaction in rainy season, (b) threshed grain mould rating (TGMS) and mycoflora on grains of each accession, and (c) mould scores in field and in vitro. Post physiological maturity evaluation showed that 16% of the accessions secured a mould rating of 2. In TGMS, 18% were mould free and 57% secured a rating of 2 on a 1 – 9 scale. Assessment of twenty representative accessions in vitro against individual and mixed conidial suspensions (1610(6) conidia ml(71)) of Fusarium moniliforme, F. pallidoroseum and Curvularia pennisetti indicated significant correlation (r¼0.97) between the overall field and in vitro scores of mixed spores inoculations. The mycoflora for TGMS in blotter test revealed that Fusarium moniliforme, F. pallidoroseum, Curvularia pennisetti, Helminthosporium spp., Alternaria spp. and Colletotrichum spp. to be the major fungi affecting pearl millet grain. It is advisable to harvest panicles at the physiological maturity stage to obtain better quality grains. A strong negative correlation between TGMS and % GS (r¼0.4601) and positive correlation between TGMS and % UGS (r¼0.4654) indicated that, the lesser the threshed grain mould rating higher the % seed germination.

The last one to two decades have seen several countries stipulating a mandatory requirement of 5–10% blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel. The mandatory blending has triggered a rapid growth in the biofuel sector. Several governments have put in place biofuel policies that have a bearing right from the production of biofuels crops at the farm to their conversion into transport-grade biofuels to be utilised for blending purpose. This paper highlights the salient features of India's biofuel policy and discusses how it influences the economic viability of ethanol production and its commercialisation in the country. The Government of India provides a wide range of policy incentives to promote biofuels as an alternative energy source. The policy challenges affecting biofuel development are discussed under the framework adapted from the Global Subsidies Initiative of Steenblik (2007) showing the existing policies and distortions along the biofuel supply chain to promote alternate feedstocks. For long-term sustainability of ethanol production for blending mandates, this paper explores the options to augment bioethanol production using alternative feedstocks like sweet sorghum that is grown in the drylands and policy support required for its promotion, which will benefit all the stakeholders of the bioethanol supply chain in the long run.