Sorghum ID BOT 2024 (1) PDF

JOWAR or SORGHUM Sorghum bicolor  Introduction It belongs to family Poaceae and genus sorghum. Sorghum is one of the major food crops of the world, particularly Africa and Asia. In India, it ranks third in major food crop, especially central and peninsular India. It is used in various fo...

JOWAR or SORGHUM Sorghum bicolor  Introduction It belongs to family Poaceae and genus sorghum. Sorghum is one of the major food crops of the world, particularly Africa and Asia. In India, it ranks third in major food crop, especially central and peninsular India. It is used in various forms, similar to rice as cooked food, malted, flour for dosai and making chapatti or rotti, popped, semolina etc. It is a very good dry and green fodder and a good concentrate feed for cattle and poultry. Raw material is used for starch Industries. It is used in production of alcohol similar to corn and used for preparation of sorghum syrup (20– 25% sugar) from sweet sorghum varieties. It is also used for production of Jaggery. It contains high amount of aconitic acid, which prevents the crystallization of sugar It has the capacity to withstand drought or excess moisture (92% of sorghum is grown under rainfed). It does well in low rainfall areas. It makes comparatively quick growth than maize.  Origin Warth (1937): Africa and Decandolle (1984): Abyssinia Classification:  Harlen and De-Wet (1971), gave a modified and simple classification based on spikelet type. Basic races: 1. Bicolor, 2. Guinea, 3. Caudatum, 4. Kafir, 5. Durra. - Now cultivated sorghum is Sorghum biclor. Hybrid races: Guinea bicolor, Caudatum bicolor etc  Climate It is a short day C4 plant. Long day condition delays flowering and maturity. It is a warm weather plant and is grown even in 1500 m from MSL. It can tolerate high temperature throughout their life cycle, better than any other cereal. It is highly resistant to desiccation. It can tolerate water logging. Low temperature at flowering affects the seed set. Rainfall at maturity affects the quality of grain. Low temperature with cloudy weather at flowering induces sugary disease.  Soil: It is grown under variety of soil. Soil with clay loam or loamy texture having good water retention is best suited. It does not thrive in sandy soils, but does better in heavier soils. It does well in pH range of 6.0–8.5 as it tolerates considerable salinity and alkalinity. The black cotton soils of Central India are very good for its cultivation  Area, Production and Productivity The World production is 147 m.t. and it is cultivated in USA, Brazil, Argentina, China and India. In India, it is staple food crop of north Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In India, it is cultivated in an area of 11.5 m.ha. with a production of 11.08 m.t. and a productivity of 950 kg/ha. In India, 92.0% of the area is under rainfed. It is mainly grown as kharif crop and smaller extent as rabi crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, sorghum is grown in both kharif and rabi. The area under cultivation is high in Maharashtra followed by Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. At present, Maharashtra has the largest area accounting 43% of Indian area under sorghum and 51% of total production. In Tamil Nadu, it is cultivated in an area of 5.06 lakh ha with a production of 4.86 lakh t and productivity of 960 kg/ha and it is largely grown in Trichy, Coimbatore, Salem, Dharmapuri, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Vellore and Erode districts. In Tamil Nadu, 85% of area is under rainfed and 15% is irrigated.  Sorghum in Brewing  Sorghum is used for brewing gluten-free beer.In some countries, especially in Africa, breweries are using a lot of sorghum as it is an excellent alternative to malt.  Important criteria for selecting sorghum varieties for brewing include: – malting quality (this include germination rate, fermentation, and some other properties); and – absence of glume and other decolourants. (These criteria differs for stout (Guinness)).  There are different methods of brewing sorghum beer by different communities in Africa and are indigenous to the community. Some of these brews are commercialized whereas, a few of these brews still remain as a home-brew for cultural ceremonies. Here are some popular varies of sorghum beer from different regions of Africa  Sorghum Beer Different regions of Africa An opaque Sorghum beer brewed by the Kapsiki people of Northern Red Kapsiki or Cameroon. Traditionally used for ritual purposes, this brew became te a sales commodity because of its popularity. A South African beer made using maize malt and sorghum malt and Umqombothi consumed during weddings and other traditional gatherings Ikigage A homemade Rwandan sorghum beer. Also known as Merisa or Marissa, is a beer made from brewing dates, Merissa millets and sorghum consumed in Sudan Dolo is a commonly consumed beer in Burkina Faso manufactured Dolo from malted sorghum grains It’s a millet or sorghum beer prepared and consumed in Northern Pito Ghana and parts of Nigeria It’s a traditional maize and sorghum based beer consumed in Amgba Cameroon. Tchouk for short, is a West African sorghum beer. It is consumed at a Tchoukoutou lukewarm temperature during traditional gatherings  Sorghum as Fodder/Feed Some varieties of sorghum are dual purpose and are grown for both grain and forage. Sorghum grain are used as poultry diet whereas forage sorghum is used for livestock. A sorghum hybrid variety CSH 24 MF developed by GB Pant university of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUA&T), India using ICRISAT-bred ICSA 467 as the female parent was recently given special recognition as the outstanding Forage Hybrid 2019 for revolutionizing forage sorghum production in India. In 2015, under Sorghum for Multiple Uses (SMU) project funded by European Commission and IFAD and implemented by ICRISAT and other partners, tested the use of sorghum flour in Fish Feed. Benson Kyalo Mwengi, a mixed crop livestock farmer from Kiboko, Kenya tested sorghum grain as fish feed raw material for the catfish and tilapia that he rears on his farm. Substituting maize and rice bran in fish feed with locally grown sorghum has brought down the cost of the feed.  Undesirable qualities: It contains high amount of Niacin, which interface with the synthesis of Tryptophane, which is the precursor for synthesis of IAA. “Pellagara” is nutritional disorder due to presence of high amount of Leucine: iso-leucine ratio (3.4). When it is reduced, yield is also reduced. This disease is common in Africa. It contains considerable amount of oxalic acid, which interface with absorption of Ca and metabolism of Ca. Phytin ‘P’ is not utilized due to high oxalic acid. Oxalic acid also affects the Fe uptake. Sorghum contains “cynogenic glucoside” called ‘Dhurin’. This glucoside is converted into HCN in the stomach of ruminants. It causes bloating and reduce the transfer of O2 to the blood steam and causes death of the animal. It is called “sorghum poisoning”/(sorghum effect). HCN content is more than 100 ppm in the early stage. Critical level is 50 ppm. It (50 ppm) normally occurs during 60-65 DAS or at heading stage. If it is harvested earlier, it should be dried and fed to cattle. “Sorghum injury”— Sorghum stubbles/roots have high C:N ratio (50:1), i.e., it contains low amount of ‘N’.  Field preparation Field has to be prepared well in advance taking advantage of early showers. FYM @) 12.5 t/ha is applied at last ploughing. Chiselling is recommended to break hardpan once in three years. Depending on the rainfall and soil type, different land shaping methods may be adopted for conservation of the moisture. Black soil having high rainfall areas, formation of broad bed and furrow is recommended. In black soils having low rainfall, form compartmental bunding or sow the seeds in flat bed and form furrows between crops during inter cultivation or during third week after sowing for both the soil types or form dead furrow at 3 m interval  Sowing The seeds are sown before onset of monsoon at 5 cm depth with seed cum fertilizer drill or by seed drill or by country plough. Pre monsoon sowing/dry seeding i.e., sowing a week or 2 weeks before on set of monsoon Growth stages Thinning: Thinning should be completed 10–15 days after emergence leaving one plant per hill. Harvesting and Threshing: Most of the high yielding varieties and hybrids mature in about 100–115 days. The right stage for harvest is, when the grain becomes hard having less than 25% moisture. Do not wait for stubble and leaves to dry, because hybrid sorghum appears green even after the crop is matured. Harvest may be done at physiological maturity. Harvesting is done by cutting the entire plant or removing the ear heads first and cutting down the plants later and is allowed to dry for 2–5 days. Threshing is done with the help of thresher or beating the ear heads. The threshed grain is dried in the sun for a week to bring the moisture content to 10–12% for safe storage.