Sorghum

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Sorghum
Sorghum.jpg
S. bicolor
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Supertribe: Andropogonodae
Tribe: Andropogoneae
Subtribe: Saccharinae
Genus: Sorghum
Moench 1794, conserved name not Sorgum Adanson 1763
Type species
S. bicolor
Synonyms [1]
  • BlumenbachiaKoeler 1802, rejected name not Schrad. 1825 (Loasaceae)
  • SargaEwart
  • VacoparisSpangler
  • AndropogonHackel.

Sorghum ( /ˈsɔːrɡəm/ ) or broomcorn is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption, in pastures for animals as fodder, and as bristles for brooms. [2] Sorghum grain is a nutritious food rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and minerals.

Contents

Sorghum is either cultivated in warm climates worldwide or naturalized in open plains. [3] In 2021, world production of sorghum was 61 million tonnes, with the United States as the leading grower.

History

Sorghum was domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 5,000 years ago in what is today Sudan. The newest evidence comes from an archaeological site near Kassala in eastern Sudan, dating from 3500 to 3000 BC, and is associated with the neolithic Butana Group culture. [4] It was the staple food of the kingdom of Alodia. [5]

Taxonomy

Sorghum is in the grass family, Poaceae, in the subfamily Panicoideae, in the tribe Andropogoneae the same as maize (Zea mays), big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardi ), and sugarcane (Saccharum spp.).

Species

Accepted species recorded include: [6]

West African market Sorghum at the market.JPG
West African market
A plate of sorghum grain A plate of sorghum grain.jpg
A plate of sorghum grain
  • Sorghum amplum – northwestern Australia
  • Sorghum angustum – Queensland
  • Sorghum arundinaceum – Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Madagascar, islands of the western Indian Ocean
  • Sorghum bicolor  – cultivated sorghum, often individually called sorghum, also known as durra, jowari, or milo. Native to Sahel region of Africa; naturalized in many places
  • Sorghum brachypodum – Northern Territory of Australia
  • Sorghum bulbosum – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum burmahicum – Thailand, Myanmar
  • Sorghum controversum – India
  • Sorghum × drummondii – Sahel and West Africa
  • Sorghum ecarinatum – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum exstans – Northern Territory of Australia
  • Sorghum grande – Northern Territory, Queensland
  • Sorghum halepense  – Johnson grass – North Africa, islands of eastern Atlantic, southern Asia from Lebanon to Vietnam; naturalized in East Asia, Australia, the Americas
  • Sorghum interjectum – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum intrans – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum laxiflorum – Philippines, Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, New Guinea, northern Australia
  • Sorghum leiocladum – Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria
  • Sorghum macrospermum – Northern Territory of Australia
  • Sorghum matarankense – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum nitidum – East Asia, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Micronesia
  • Sorghum plumosum – Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia
  • Sorghum propinquum – China, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Christmas Island, Micronesia, Cook Islands
  • Sorghum purpureosericeum – Sahel from Mali to Tanzania; Yemen, Oman, India
  • Sorghum stipoideum – Northern Territory, Western Australia
  • Sorghum timorense – Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku, New Guinea, northern Australia
  • Sorghum trichocladum – Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
  • Sorghum versicolor – eastern + southern Africa from Ethiopia to Namibia; Oman
  • Sorghum virgatum – dry regions from Senegal to the Levant.

Sorghum production – 2021
Country(Millions of tonnes)
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 11.4
Flag of India.svg  India 4.8
Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 4.4
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 4.4
Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 3.3
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3.0
World61.4
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations [7]

Genetics and genomics

Agrobacterium transformation can be used on this genus, [8] as shown in a 2018 report of such a transformation system. [8] A 2013 study developed and validated an SNP array for molecular breeding. [9] [10]

Distribution and habitat

Seventeen of the 25 species are native to Australia, [11] [12] [13] [14] with the range of some extending to Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica, and certain islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. [15] [16]

Production

In 2021, world production of sorghum was 61 million tonnes, led by the United States with 19% of the total (table). India, Ethiopia, and Mexico were secondary producers.

Sorghum grain
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 329 kJ (79 kcal)
72.1 g
Sugars 2.53 g
Dietary fiber 6.7 g
Fat
3.46 g
Saturated 0.61 g
Monounsaturated 1.13 g
Polyunsaturated 1.56 g
10.6 g
Vitamins Quantity
%DV
Vitamin A equiv.
0%
0 μg
Thiamine (B1)
29%
0.332 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
8%
0.096 mg
Niacin (B3)
25%
3.69 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
7%
0.367 mg
Vitamin B6
34%
0.443 mg
Folate (B9)
5%
20 μg
Vitamin C
0%
0 mg
Vitamin E
3%
0.5 mg
Minerals Quantity
%DV
Calcium
1%
13 mg
Copper
14%
0.284 mg
Iron
26%
3.36 mg
Magnesium
46%
165 mg
Manganese
76%
1.6 mg
Phosphorus
41%
289 mg
Potassium
12%
363 mg
Selenium
17%
12.2 μg
Sodium
0%
2 mg
Zinc
18%
1.67 mg
Other constituentsQuantity
Water12.4 g

Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA FoodData Central

Toxicity

In the early stages of plant growth, some sorghum species may contain levels of hydrogen cyanide, hordenine, and nitrates lethal to grazing animals. [17] Plants stressed by drought or heat can also contain toxic levels of cyanide and nitrates at later stages in growth. [18]

Nutrition

The grain is edible and nutritious. It can be eaten raw when young and milky, but has to be boiled or ground into flour when mature. [19]

Sorghum grain is 72% carbohydrates including 7% dietary fiber, 11% protein, 3% fat, and 12% water (table). In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), sorghum grain supplies 79 calories and rich contents (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of several B vitamins and dietary minerals (table).

Use

Sorghum cultivation has been linked by archeological research to ancient Sudan around 6,000 to 7,000 BP. [20] One species, S. bicolor , [21] native to Africa with many cultivated forms, [22] is a common crop worldwide, used for food (in the form of grain or sorghum syrup), animal fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, and biofuels.

In Nigeria, the pulverized red leaf-sheaths of sorghum have been used to dye leather, and in Algeria, sorghum has been used to dye wool. [23]

Polyphenols

All sorghums contain mixed polyphenols, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids. [24] Sorghum grains are one of the highest food sources of proanthocyanidins. [25]

Cultivation

Most varieties of sorghum are drought- and heat-tolerant, nitrogen-efficient, [26] and are grown particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where the grain is one of the staples for poor and rural people. These varieties are forage in many tropical regions. S. bicolor is a food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia, and is the fifth most common cereal crop grown in the world. [27] [28]

Chinese demand

In 2013, China began purchasing US sorghum as a complementary livestock feed to domestically grown maize. It imported around $1 billion worth per year until April 2018, when it imposed retaliatory tariffs as part of the trade war. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cereal</span> Grass that has edible grain

A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize. Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa are pseudocereals. Most cereals are annuals, producing one crop from each planting, though rice is sometimes grown as a perennial. Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millet</span> Group of grasses (food grain)

Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also belong to various other taxa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proso millet</span> Species of grass

Panicum miliaceum is a grain crop with many common names, including proso millet, broomcorn millet, common millet, hog millet, Kashfi millet, red millet, and white millet. Archaeobotanical evidence suggests millet was first domesticated about 10,000 BP in Northern China. Major cultivated areas include Northern China, Himachal Pradesh of India, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Middle East, Turkey, Romania, and the Great Plains states of the United States. About 500,000 acres are grown each year. The crop is notable both for its extremely short lifecycle, with some varieties producing grain only 60 days after planting, and its low water requirements, producing grain more efficiently per unit of moisture than any other grain species tested. The name "proso millet" comes from the pan-Slavic general and generic name for millet.

<i>Eleusine coracana</i> Species of grass

Eleusine coracana, or finger millet is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckwheat</span> Species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae

Buckwheat, or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as Fagopyrum tataricum, a domesticated food plant raised in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fonio</span> Species of cultivated grass

Fonio, also sometimes called findi or acha, is the term for two cultivated grasses in the genus Digitaria that are important crops in parts of West Africa. The nutritious food with a favorable taste is a vital food source in many rural areas, especially in the mountains of Fouta Djalon, Guinea but it is also cultivated in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Senegal. The global fonio market was estimated at 721,400 tonnes in 2020. Guinea annually produces the most fonio in the world, accounting for over 75% of the world's production in 2019. The name fonio is from Wolof foño. In West Africa, the species black fonio (Digitaria iburua) and white fonio (Digitaria exilis) are cultivated, whereby the latter is the economically more important crop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spelt</span> Species of grain

Spelt, also known as dinkel wheat or hulled wheat, is a species of wheat that has been cultivated since approximately 5000 BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pearl millet</span> Species of cultivated grass

Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Recent archaeobotanical research has confirmed the presence of domesticated pearl millet on the Sahel zone of northern Mali between 2500 and 2000 BC. 2023 was the International Year of Millets, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.

<i>Sorghum <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> drummondii</i> Hybrid species of grass

Sorghum × drummondii, is a hybrid-derived species of grass raised for forage and grain, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eastern Africa. It may also be known as Sorghum bicolor × Sorghum arundinaceum after its parents. Some authorities consider all three species to be subspecies under S. bicolor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foxtail millet</span> Species of grass

Foxtail millet, scientific name Setaria italica, is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidence of foxtail millet cultivation was found along the ancient course of the Yellow River in Cishan, China, carbon dated to be from around 8,000 years before present. Foxtail millet has also been grown in India since antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of agriculture</span>

Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin. The development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived. They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming.

<i>Sorghum bicolor</i> Species of plant

Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food for humans, animal feed, and ethanol production. Sorghum originated in Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Sorghum is the world's fifth-most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize, and barley, with 61,000,000 metric tons of annual global production in 2021. S. bicolor is typically an annual, but some cultivars are perennial. It grows in clumps that may reach over 4 metres (13 ft) high. The grain is small, ranging from 2 to 4 millimetres in diameter. Sweet sorghums are sorghum cultivars that are primarily grown for forage, syrup production, and ethanol; they are taller than those grown for grain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commercial sorghum</span>

Commercial sorghum is the cultivation and commercial exploitation of species of grasses within the genus Sorghum. These plants are used for grain, fibre and fodder. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Commercial Sorghum species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia.

Sporisorium sorghi, commonly known as sorghum smut, is a plant pathogen that belongs to the Ustilaginaceae family. This fungus is the causative agent of covered kernel smut disease and infects sorghum plants all around the world such as Sorghum bicolor (sorghum), S. sudanense, S. halepense and Sorghumvulgare var. technichum (broomcorn). Ineffective control of S. sorghi can have serious economic and ecological implications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crop wild relative</span> Wild plant closely related to a domesticated plant

A crop wild relative (CWR) is a wild plant closely related to a domesticated plant. It may be a wild ancestor of the domesticated (cultivated) plant or another closely related taxon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient grains</span> Small, hard, dry seeds used as food

Ancient grains is a marketing term used to describe a category of grains and pseudocereals that are purported to have been minimally changed by selective breeding over recent millennia, as opposed to more widespread cereals such as corn, rice and modern varieties of wheat, which are the product of thousands of years of selective breeding. Ancient grains are often marketed as being more nutritious than modern grains, though their health benefits over modern varieties have been disputed by some nutritionists.

Sorghum is an important staple crop for more than 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including many people in Nepal. In statistics collected from 1992 to 1994 about general millet, Nepal had an area of 0.21 million ha, with a yield rate of 1.14 (t/ha), and produced around 0.24 million tons of sorghum. The entirety of the crop is highly valued, with both the grain and the stem being utilized. The Terai region of Nepal tends to be more tropical which is ideal for the growth of sorghum. It tolerates hot climates better than maize or soybeans. For subsistence farmers, like those in Nepal, fertilizers are not necessary and the crop is frequently harvested by hand.

<i>Sorghum arundinaceum</i> Species of plant

Sorghum arundinaceum, the common wild sorghum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae. It is native to Sub‑Saharan Africa, Madagascar, many of the Indian Ocean islands, and the Indian Subcontinent, and has been introduced to northern South America, the US states of California and Florida, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, New Guinea, and a number of smaller islands worldwide. It is the wild progenitor of cultivated sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, with some authorities considering it to be a mere variety or subspecies; Sorghum bicolor var. arundinaceum, or Sorghum bicolor subsp. verticilliflorum.

Brachiaria deflexa is an annual millet grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to many regions such as Africa, India, and Pakistan in both tropical and subtropical regions. It has been used as a supplemental food source among other cereal crops.

Sorghum macrospermum, the Katherine sorghum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae, endemic only to limestone outcrops in the Katherine River area of the Northern Territory of Australia. A diploid, as a crop wild relative of Sorghum bicolor it is being studied for its resistance to various pest species.

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Further reading