Sorghum
| Sorghum | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
About 30 species, see text |
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents in addition to Oceania and Australasia. Sorghum is in the subfamily Panicoideae and the tribe Andropogoneae (the tribe of big bluestem and sugar cane).
Forsythia is the genus and common name for a taxon of deciduous shrubs in the flowering plant family Oleaceae (olive family), popularly cultivated for their early-blooming, bell-shaped, yellow flowers, which typically open before the leaves appear.
For more specific details on commercially exploited Sorghum see commercial sorghum.
South African scientists at the University of the Western Cape have created a system to culture sorghum cells in suspension that they say will boost global sorghum proteomics studies. The researchers, according to the South African Journal of Science, intend to use the method to better understand sorghum's tolerance to drought. [1]
Description
Sorghum is a member of the grass family, Poaceae, one of the largest and most important plant families, which also includes wheat, rice, and sugar cane. There are about 600 genera and perhaps ten thousand species of grasses.
Grasses, like orchids and palms, are monocotyledons. Monocotyledons are one of two major groups of flowering plants (angiosperms), the other being dicotyledons. Monocotyledons have only one cotyledon, or embryo leaf, rather than the two found in dicotyledons. The largest family in the monocotyledon group (and in the flowering plants) is the orchids. However, the most economically important family in this group is the grasses, which include the true grains (rice, wheat, maize, barley, etc.). Unlike dicotyledons, the true grasses are specialized for wind pollination and produce smaller flowers.
History
Most cultivated varieties of sorghum can be traced back to Africa, where they grow on savanna lands. In ancient times sorghum was also grown in India. During the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, sorghum was planted extensively in parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.[1] The name "sorghum" comes from Italian "sorgo", in turn from Latin "Syricum (granum)" meaning "grain of Syria".
Tenth century records indicate that it was widely grown in Iraq, and became the principal food of Kirman in Persia. In addition to the eastern parts of the Muslim world, the crop was also grown in Egypt and later in Islamic Spain. From Islamic Spain it was introduced to Christian Spain and then France (by the twelfth century). In the Muslim world, sorghum was grown usually in areas where the soil was poor or the weather too hot and dry to grow other crops.[1]
African slaves introduced sorghum into the U.S. in the early 17th century.
Cultivation and uses
Numerous Sorghum species are used for food (as grain and in sorghum syrup or "sorghum molasses"), fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, as well as biofuels. Most species are drought tolerant and heat tolerant and are especially important in arid regions. They form an important component of pastures in many tropical regions. Sorghum species are an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia and is the "fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world" [2].
In Arab cuisine, the unmilled grain is often cooked to make cous-cous, porridges, soups, and cakes. Many poor use it, along with other flours or starches, to make bread. The seeds and stalks are fed to cattle and poultry. Some varieties have been used for thatch, fencing, baskets, brushes and brooms, and stalks have been used as fuel. Medieval Islamic texts list medical uses for the plant.[2]
A sorghum species, Johnson Grass, is classified as a noxious weed.
The reclaimed stalks of the sorghum plant are used to make a decorative millwork material marketed as Kirei board.
Some species of sorghum can contain levels of hydrogen cyanide, hordenine and nitrates lethal to grazing animals in the early stages of the plant's growth. Stressed plants, even at later stages of growth, can also contain toxic levels of cyanide.
Species
- Sorghum almum
- Sorghum amplum
- Sorghum angustum
- Sorghum arundinaceum
- Sorghum bicolor (primary cultivated species)
- Sorghum brachypodum
- Sorghum bulbosum
- Sorghum burmahicum
- Sorghum controversum
- Sorghum drummondii
- Sorghum ecarinatum
- Sorghum exstans
- Sorghum grande
- Sorghum halepense
- Sorghum interjectum
- Sorghum intrans
- Sorghum laxiflorum
- Sorghum leiocladum
- Sorghum macrospermum
- Sorghum matarankense
- Sorghum miliaceum
- Sorghum nigrum
- Sorghum nitidum
- Sorghum plumosum
- Sorghum propinquum
- Sorghum purpureosericeum
- Sorghum stipoideum
- Sorghum timorense
- Sorghum trichocladum
- Sorghum versicolor
- Sorghum virgatum
- Sorghum vulgare
Hybrids
- Sorghum × almum
- Sorghum × drummondii
Footnotes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Watson, Andrew. Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world. Cambridge University Press.
External links
- FAO Report (1995) "Sorghum and millets in human nutrition"
- FAO "Compendium on post-harvest operations" — Contains discussion on origin, processing and uses of sorghum
- Alternative Field Crops
- ITIS 42106 2002-09-22
- ICRISAT
- Grain Sorghum Irrigation
- Sorghum on US Grains Council Web Site
- National Grain Sorghum Producers
- National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association
- [3] - Sorghum Handbook
- Sorghum Growth Stages
- Sequencing of the Sorghum Genome by Methylation Filtration
- Risk management of cyanide (prussic acid) and nitrates in sorghum crops
- Preliminary assembly and annotation of sorghum bicolor genome
| |||||
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
