The genus of sorghum is found in warm, dry climates, especially in Africa, India, Pakistan, China and the Southern USA where its members are grown as important grain or forage crops.
Sorghum is a food staple in many parts of Africa and Asia. The seed of grain sorghum or dura as it is often called, contains no gluten, and hence is by itself not suitable for bread making. Normally for human consumption the grain is group into flour, mixed with water or fat and cooked to form a porridge or batter.
Dehulling and grinding, usually manual, have been mechanized and even constitute an industry in some regions,. Manufacturing of beverages such as sorghum beer is an equally important outlet for its production.
Alternatively, in other countries, especially in Asia, sorghum is produced primarily for silage. India is the largest producer of sorghum that is cut green for silage.
The sorghum grain like all other cereal grains, consists of three distinct parts; the pericarp, endosperm and germ.
Sorghum has a similar chemical composition to maize. However, sorghum is often reported to have a slightly lower protein and starch digestibility when compared to maize.
The average protein content of sorghum is 11-12%. Sorghum is often recommend as a safe food for celiac disease patients, because it is more closely related to maize than wheat, rye and barley.
Research being conduct on new, high phenol varieties of sorghum is demonstrating certain varieties of sorghum are loaded with chemicals that are able to block the initiation, promotion and progression of colon, esophageal, lung, liver, pancreas and breast cancer.
The anthocyanins in sorghum also found to reduce tumor growth, reduce elevated blood cholesterol, and prevent oxidation of low-density-lipoprotein.
Although sorghum cultivation has become an important component of agriculture in a few industrial countries, it remains largely a developing country crop with 95% of the world’s area cultivated to sorghum is in developing countries.
Sorghum will remain an important food security crop in less favorable environments in tropical Africa.
Cereal of sorghum
