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* [http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/johnsongrass.shtml Species Profile- Johnsongrass (''Sorghum halepense'')], National Invasive Species Information Center, [[United States National Agricultural Library]]. Lists general information and resources for Johnsongrass.
*[http://gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/GapAnalysis/?p=277 Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal] reliable information source on where and what to conserve ''ex-situ'', regarding ''Sorghum'' genepool
*[http://gisweb.ciat.cgiar.org/GapAnalysis/?p=277 Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal] reliable information source on where and what to conserve ''ex-situ'', regarding ''Sorghum'' genepool
* [http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0818e/T0818E00.HTM FAO Report (1995) "Sorghum and millets in human nutrition"]
* [http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0818e/T0818E00.HTM FAO Report (1995) "Sorghum and millets in human nutrition"]

Revision as of 19:36, 9 February 2011

This article is about the plant genus. For the crop plant, see Sorghum bicolor. For other uses, see Sorghum (genus) (disambiguation).

Sorghum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Monocots
(unranked):
Commelinids
Order:
Poales
Family:
Poaceae
Subfamily:
Panicoideae
Tribe:
Andropogoneae
Genus:
Sorghum

Species

About 30 species, see text

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is 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 the South West Pacific and Australasia. Sorghum is in the subfamily Panicoideae and the tribe Andropogoneae (the tribe of big bluestem and sugar cane).

For more specific details on commercially exploited sorghum, see commercial sorghum.

Cultivation and uses

File:2005sorghum.PNG
Sorghum output in 2005.

One species, Sorghum bicolor,[1] is an important world crop, used for food (as grain and in sorghum syrup or "sorghum molasses"), fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, as well as biofuels. Most varieties are drought and heat tolerant, and are especially important in arid regions, where the grain is staple or one of the staples for poor and rural people. They form an important component of pastures in many tropical regions. Sorghum is an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia and is the "fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world".[2]

The reclaimed stalks of the sorghum plant are used to make a decorative millwork material marketed as Kirei board.

Sweet sorghum syrup is known as molasses in some parts of the U.S., although it is not true molasses.

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.[citation needed]

In China, sorghum is fermented and distilled to produce maotai, which is regarded as one of the country's most famous liquors. Sorghum was ground and the flour was the main alternative to wheat in north China for a long time.

In India (where it is commonly called Jwaarie or Jowar or Jondhahlaa and is one of the staple sources of nutrition for rural and poor), and other places, sweet sorghum stalks are used for producing biofuel by squeezing the juice and then fermenting into ethanol.[3] Texas A&M University in the United States is currently running trials to find the best varieties for ethanol production from sorghum leaves and stalks in the USA.[4]

Another Sorghum species, Johnson grass (S. halapense), is classified as an invasive species in the US by the Department of Agriculture.[5]

Species

Hybrids

  • Sorghum × almum
  • Sorghum × drummondii

Sorghum genome

In 2009, a team of international researchers announced they had sequenced the sorghum genome.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mutegi, Evans (2010-02-01). "Ecogeographical distribution of wild, weedy and cultivated Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench in Kenya: implications for conservation and crop-to-wild gene flow". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 57 (2): 243–253. doi:10.1007/s10722-009-9466-7. Retrieved 2010-08-02. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Sorghum, U.S. Grains Council.
  3. ^ Sweet Sorghum : A New "Smart Biofuel Crop" AgriBusinessWeek, 30 June 2008
  4. ^ Ceres and Texas A&M to Develop and Market High-Biomass Sorghum for Biofuels Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program, 1 October 2007
  5. ^ Johnson Grass, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Accessed 2257 UDT, 12 March, 2009.
  6. ^ Sequencing of sorghum genome completed EurekAlert, January 28, 2010, Retrieved August 30, 2010
  7. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1038/nature07723, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1038/nature07723 instead.
  • Watson, Andrew M. Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-521-24711-X.
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