Sorghum bicolor, commonly calledsorghum[2] (/ˈsɔːrɡəm/) and also known asgreat millet,[3]broomcorn,[4]guinea corn,[5]durra,[6]imphee,[7]jowar,[8] ormilo,[9] is a species in thegrass genusSorghum cultivated for itsgrain. The grain is used as food by humans, while the plant is used for 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 importantcereal crop afterrice,wheat,maize, andbarley.[10] Sorghum 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, 2 to 4 millimetres (0.08 to 0.2 in) in diameter.Sweet sorghums are cultivars primarily grown for forage, syrup production, and ethanol. They are taller than those grown for grain.
Sorghum is a large stout grass that grows up to 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) tall. It has large bushy flowerheads orpanicles that provide an edible starchy grain with up to 3,000 seeds in each flowerhead. It grows in warm climates worldwide for food and forage.[11][12][13] Sorghum is native to Africa with many cultivated forms.[14][15] Most production uses annual cultivars, but some wild species ofSorghum are perennial, which may enablethe Land Institute to develop a perennial cultivar for "repeated, sufficient grain harvests without resowing."[16][17]
S. bicolor wasdomesticated from its wild ancestor more than 5,000 years ago in EasternSudan in the area of the RiversAtbara andGash.[20][21] It has been found at an archaeological site nearKassala in eastern Sudan, dating from 3500 to 3000 BC, and is associated with the NeolithicButana Group culture.[22] Sorghum bread from graves inPredynastic Egypt, some 5,100 years ago, is displayed in theEgyptian Museum, Turin, Italy.[19]
The first race to be domesticated wasbicolor; it had tight husks that had to be removed forcibly. Around 4,000 years ago, this spread to the Indian subcontinent; around 3,000 years ago it reached West Africa.[20] Four other races evolved through cultivation to have larger grains and to become free-threshing, making harvests easier and more productive. These werecaudatum in theSahel;durra, most likely in India;guinea in West Africa (later reaching India), and from that racemageritiferum that gave rise to the varieties of Southern Africa.[20]
Domestication and the five major races of sorghum[20]
In the Middle Ages, theArab Agricultural Revolution spread sorghum and other crops from Africa and Asia across the Arab world as far asAl-Andalus in Spain.[23] Sorghum remained the staple food of the medieval kingdom ofAlodia and most Sub-Saharan cultures prior to European colonialism.[24]
Tall varieties of sorghum with a high sugar content are called sweet sorghum; these are useful for producing a sugar-rich syrup and as forage.[25][26] Sweet sorghum was important to thesugar trade in the 19th century.[27] The price of sugar was rising because of decreased production in the BritishWest Indies and more demand forconfectionery andfruit preserves, and the United States was actively searching for a sugar plant that could be produced in northern states. The "Chinese sugar-cane", sweet sorghum, was viewed as a plant that would be productive in the West Indies.[28]
The name sorghum derives from Italiansorgo, which in turn most likely comes from 12th centuryMedieval Latinsurgum orsuricum. This in turn may be from Latinsyricum, meaning "[grass] of Syria".[29]
Most varieties of sorghum aredrought- and heat-tolerant,nitrogen-efficient,[30] and are grown particularly inarid andsemi-arid regions where the grain is one of thestaples for poor and rural people. These varieties provideforage in many tropical regions.S. bicolor is afood crop in Africa,Central America, andSouth Asia, and is the fifth most common cereal crop grown in the world.[31][32] It is most often grown without application of fertilizers or other inputs by small-holder farmers in developing countries.[33] They benefit from sorghum's ability to compete effectively with weeds, especially when it is planted in narrow rows. Sorghumactively suppresses weeds by producing sorgoleone, analkylresorcinol.[34]
Sorghum grows in a wide range of temperatures. It can tolerate high altitude and toxic soils, and can recover growth after some drought.[25] Optimum growth temperature range is 12–34 °C (54–93 °F), and the growing season lasts for around 115–140 days.[35] It can grow on a wide range of soils, such as heavy clay to sandy soils with the pH tolerance ranging from 5.0 to 8.5.[36] It requires an arable field that has been left fallow for at least two years or wherecrop rotation with legumes has taken place in the previous year.[37] Diversified 2- or 4-year crop rotation can improve sorghum yield, additionally making it more resilient to inconsistent growth conditions.[38] In terms of nutrient requirements, sorghum is comparable to other cereal grain crops with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium required for growth.[39]
TheInternational Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics has improved sorghum using traditional genetic improvement and integrated genetic and natural resources management practices.[40] Some 194 improved cultivars are now planted worldwide.[41] InIndia, increases in sorghum productivity resulting from improved cultivars have freed up 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of land, enabling farmers to diversify into high-income cash crops and boost their livelihoods.[42] Sorghum is used primarily as poultry feed, and secondarily as cattle feed and in brewing applications.[43]
Sorghum harvest at the shore ofLake Hayq, Ethiopia, 2012
Harvesting sorghum in Oklahoma, USA, with a combine harvester
Drying sorghum in the open air, Uganda, 2020
Women drying sorghum seeds by tossing them in trays, 2022
The genome ofS. bicolor was sequenced between 2005 and 2007.[50][51] It is generally considered diploid and contains 20 chromosomes,[52] however, there is evidence to suggest a tetraploid origin forS. bicolor.[53] The genome size is approximately 800 Mbp.[54]
Patersonet al., 2009 provides agenome assembly of 739megabase. The most commonly used genome database isSorGSD maintained by Luoet al., 2016. A gene expression atlas is available from Shakooret al., 2014 with 27,577genes. Formolecular breeding (or other purposes) anSNP array has been created by Bekeleet al., 2013, a 3K SNP Infinium fromIllumina, Inc.[55]
In 2021, world production of sorghum was 61 milliontonnes, led by the United States with 19% of the total (table). India,Ethiopia, and Mexico were the largest secondary producers.[58]
Sorghum-growing areas of the US, the world's largest producer
In 2013,China began purchasing American sorghum as a complementary livestock feed to its domestically grown maize. It imported around $1 billion worth per year until April 2018, when it imposed retaliatorytariffs as part ofa trade war.[59] By 2020, the tariffs had been waived, and trade volumes increased[60] before declining again as China began buying sorghum from other countries.[61] As of 2020, China is the world's largest sorghum importer, importing more than all other countries combined.[60] Mexico also accounts for 7% of global sorghum production.[62]
The grain is edible and nutritious. It can be eaten raw when young and milky, but has to be boiled orground intoflour when mature.[65]
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 79calories and rich contents (20% or more of theDaily Value, DV) of several B vitamins and dietary minerals (table).[66]
In the early stages of plant growth, some sorghum species may contain levels ofhydrogen cyanide,hordenine, andnitrates lethal to grazing animals.[67] Plants stressed by drought or heat can also contain toxic levels of cyanide and nitrates at later stages in growth.[68]
Sorghum is widely used for food and animal fodder. It is also used to makealcoholic beverages.[12] It can be made intocouscous, porridge, or flatbreads such as IndianJōḷada roṭṭi or tortillas; and it can be burst in hot oil to make apopcorn, smaller than that of maize. Since it does not contain gluten, it can be used ingluten-free diets.[69]
In South Africa, characteristically sourmalwa beer is made from sorghum or millet. The process involves souring themashed grain withlactic acid bacteria, followed by fermenting by thewild yeasts that were on the grain.[70] In China and Taiwan, sorghum is one of the main materials ofKaoliang liquor, a type of the colourless distilled alcoholic drinkBaijiu.[71][72]
In countries including the US, the stalks ofsweet sorghum varieties are crushed in a cane juicer to extract the sweetmolasses-like juice. The juice is sold as syrup,[73][74][75] and used as afeedstock to make biofuel.[76]
Sorghum can be used to producefuel ethanol as an alternative tomaize. The energy ratio for the production of ethanol is similar to that ofsugarcane, and much higher than that of maize.[77] Extracted carbohydrates can readily befermented into ethanol because of their simple sugar structure. Residuals contain enough energy to power the ethanol processing facilities used to produce the fuel.[78] As of 2018, production costs (including price of produce,[79] transport and processing costs) are competitive with maize,[80] while sorghum has a lower nitrogenfertilizer requirement than maize.[81]To turn it into fuel ethanol, sorghum juice is concentrated into syrup for long term storage, then fermented in a batch fermentation process.[82]
InNigeria, the pulverized red leaf-sheaths of sorghum have been used to dye leather, while inAlgeria, sorghum has been used to dye wool.[83]
In India, the panicle stalks are used as bristles forbrooms.[84]
Sorghum seeds and bagasse have the potential to producelactic acid via fermentation which can be used to makepolylactic acid, a biodegradable thermoplastic resin.[85]
In Korea, the origin tale "Brother and sister who became the Sun and Moon" is also called "The reason sorghum is red".[87] In the tale, a tiger who is chasing a brother and sister follows them up a rotten rope as they climb into the sky, and become the sun and moon. The rope breaks, and the tiger falls to its death, impaling itself on a sorghum stalk, which becomes red with its blood.[88]
In Northeastern Italy in theearly modern period, sticks of sorghum were used byBenandanti visionaries of theFriuli district to fight off witches who were thought to threaten crops and people.[89]
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