Sorghum

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

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

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.

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

Sorghum vulgare var. technicum is commonly called broomcorn.

Species

• Sorghum almum
• Sorghum amplum
• Sorghum angustum
• Sorghum arundinaceum
• Sorghum bicolor — Cultivated sorghum, often individually called sorghum
  • Sorghum bicolor subsp. drummondii — Sudan grass
• Sorghum brachypodum
• Sorghum bulbosum
• Sorghum burmahicum
• Sorghum ecarinatum
• Sorghum exstans
• Sorghum grande
• Sorghum halepense — Johnson grass
• Sorghum interjectum
• Sorghum intrans
• Sorghum laxiflorum
• Sorghum leiocladum
• Sorghum macrospermum
• Sorghum matarankense
• Sorghum nitidum
• Sorghum plumosum
• Sorghum propinquum
• Sorghum purpureosericeum
• Sorghum stipoideum
• Sorghum timorense
• Sorghum trichocladum
• Sorghum versicolor
• Sorghum verticiliflorum
• Sorghum vulgare var. technicum  — Broomcorn

Hybrids

• Sorghum × almum
• Sorghum × drummondii

Sorghum genome

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

See also

• Baijiu alcoholic beverage distilled from sorghum
• Push–pull technology pest control strategy for maize and sorghum

References

• 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.

External links

• Species Profile- Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for Johnsongrass.
• Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal reliable information source on where and what to conserve ex-situ, regarding Sorghum genepool
• 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
• Grain Sorghum Irrigation
• Sorghum on US Grains Council Web Site
• National Grain Sorghum Producers
• National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association
• Sorghum handbook, US Grain Council
• Sorghum Growth Stages
• Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association, organization for the promotion and development of sweet Sorghum as a source for biofuels, especially ethanol