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Tall, coarse annual (Sorghum vulgare) of the family Gramineae (grass family), somewhat similar in appearance to corn (but having the grain in a panicle rather than an ear) and used for much the same purposes. Probably indigenous to Africa, it is one of the longest-cultivated plants of warm regions there and also in Asia–especially in India and China. Because of its extreme drought resistance (because of the unusually extensive branchingroot system) and its ability to withstand hotter climates than corn, sorghum has been introduced to the United
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| States and other regions. Its innumerable varieties are generally classified as the sweet sorghums or sorgos, yielding sorghum syrups and molasses from the cane juice; the broomcorns, yielding a fiber from the inflorescence that is used for making brooms; the grass sorghums (e.g., Sudan grass), used for pasture and hay; and the grain sorghums, e.g., durra, feterita, kaffir or kaffir corn, kaoliang, milo or milo maize, and shallu. The pulverized grain is used for stock and poultry feeds and, in the Old World, for human food. Sorghums also provide cover crops and green manures, grain substitutes for any industrial processes that employ corn, and fuel and weaving material from the stems. In the United States, sorghum is grown throughout the Great Plains area and in Arizona and California; about half the crop is used for forage and silage and half for feed grains. Only a small amount is grown for syrup, most of which is consumed locally. Johnson grass (S. halapense) is similar to Sudan grass but is a perennial. Native to the Mediterranean and naturalized in the United States, especially in the Southwest, it is a noxious weed in cultivated fields but is also used as a forage crop. Sorghum is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae. |
| Sorghum is one of the five most important cereal grain species that man depends upon as a food grain. Originating in Africa, sorghum utilization as food has largely been confined to India , Pakistan , Africa, the Middle East and Northern China . Except for the recent past the United States has paid little attention to the quality potential of our native-bred and produced sorghums. A more diverse world and the mixing of cultures now expands the potential for food sorghums worldwide. Cereal grains are used basically as raw materials for human food. The quality of food grade sorghums has only recently been defined, and it is important to understand how U.S. production can provide for |
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and meet the needs of such a precise food system. In ethnic cultures, sorghum is used as leavened and unleavened flatbreads, thick and thin porridges (with and w/o fermentation), steam-cooked products, boiled grain, snack foods and alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverages. Sorghum is can be partially be substituted for wheat flour in various baked products in the Western World.
•White
White sorghum grain is producible simply by changing only two genes.
One gene changes grain color from red to white
and the other needed gene changes the basic
plant color from red to tan or straw. These two
genes do not have effects upon other parts of
the plant or upon productivity. This is not to say
that all quality is controlled in this simple way;
but this is the major first step. White sorghums
are; therefore, no more susceptible to diseases,
insects, lodging, or sprouting than others.
Similarly, they are the same heights, have the
same exsertion, have the same advantages
and disadvantages as any other sorghum.
They do have a significantly reduced heat load
to carry because of the lighter color of the grain
and plant parts so yield should be higher from
this physiological trait. There are no hidden
constraints; nothing but positive attributes.
•Yellow This type of grain is produced when both parents of a hybrid are yellow-seeded. It makes excellent quality feed. The primary disadvantage of the yellow grain is weather damage. Grains of these varieties begin to weather earlier than other grain types. Grain will generally lose quality in a relatively short period of time after grain moisture reaches 12 to 14 percent. For consistently high grain quality, you must harvest at 18 to 20 percent grain moisture, or higher, and dry. You may use yellow-seeded sorghums in the same ways as the bronze-seeded sorghum. |
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