sorghum

hello every body., today i would like you to know more about one among the beneficial crops sorghum
Be with me

1 .SORGHUM

SCIENTIFIC NAME; Sorghum bicolor

USES; Sorghum is the fourth most important world cereal following wheat, rice, and maize.

1/It is a staple food in the drier part of tropical Africa and India and China

- the threshed grain in ground into a whole meal flour. In Africa this flour is made into a thin porridge

This flour is made into a thin porridge or a think post or dough by boiling in water.

2/sorghum is widely used for brewing beer, particularly in Africa

3/The grain is a valuable stock feed and is used mainly for this purpose   in the united state

4/sorghum oil is obtained from embryos removed during the starch manufacture; it is used in cooking and salad making

5/thin stem mainly from the wild grass sorghum are used for making basket and fish traps

6/the plant bases and stem are used for thatching for walls in houses and for fance

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

-Sorghum was originated in the worth-east quadrant of Africa i.e. in ETHIOPIA

-Sorghum was taken to east Africa from Ethiopia

-Sorghum was taken from eastern Africa to India, probably during the first millennium B.C

-Sorghum probably reached china along the silk age from India early in the Christian era

-sorghum was taken from West Africa to the new world by the slave trade

ECOLOGY

-Sorghum is adapted to a wide range of ecological conditions which are favorable for most other cereal and produced useful yields of grains.

-sorghum is grown between 40® N and S of the Equator

DROUGHT RESISTANCE OF SORGHUM

-The drought-resistance f sorghum is due to the following MORPHOLOGICAL and PHYSIOLOGICAL properties;

1/The plant above ground grows slowly until the root system has become well established

2/Sorghum produces twice as many secondary roots as maize

3/The leaf area is about half that of maize

4/Sorghum can complete well with weeds once it has become well established

5/ the plant can remain dominant during periods of drought and resume growth during periods of droughts and resume growth when condition becomes favorable

6/evaporation from sorghum is above half that of maize

STRUCTURE

Sorghum is a vigorous grass 0.5-0.6 in height often an annual with a single  stem tiller produced in some cultivars which may be produced early or not until after flowering when they can be grown on as a ratoon crop

1/ROOTS; A single radical is produced by the seeding followed by ADVENTITIONS FIBROUS          ROOTS from the lowest wades of the stem

2/STEM;  Solid usually erect dry or juicy insipid or sweet 0.5-3cm in diameter at the base and a   height of 0.5-0.6 in tall according to alternate.

3/LEAVES; the number varies from 7-24 cm according to cultivars erect vat first later curving alternate in two ranks

4/INFLORESCENCE; Centre riches of powder may be long or short with primary secondary and sometimes tertiary branches racemes of spikelet’s

5/SPIKELET; borne in pairs one of which is sessile and hermaphrodite and the pedicel led and male sterile.

6/FRUIT; the grain attains maximum dry weight 25-55 days after blooming and then contains 25-35 per cent moisture

 POLLINATION

The inflorescence begins to flower when the pedicle has complete its elongation

-flowering as spread over a period of 6-15 days  is more usual, with the peak blooming abot half way through the flowering period

-the time of spikelet opening is between 8.00 pm and 8.30 am. Opening is rapid caused by swelling of lodicules it is completed in about 10 minutes and the stigma and anthers emerged

-the flowers remain open about two hours. Pollen is shed soon after the anthers become prudent and   remains viable for 3-6 hours

-cross pollination is about 5 per cent

GERMINATION

Some cultivars show seed dormancy for the first month after harvesting. The seed will remain viable for considerable period provided it is properly stored

-all too often under poor storage condition it is severely attacked by insects which may make it difficult to keep seed between planting seasons.

-a laboratory germination of 90 may be escorted to give about 50 germination in the field.

-the radical produced on germination is later repealed by ADVENTITIOUS ROOTS arising from the lowest nodes of the stem.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF DRY SEED OF SORGHUM

-WATER 8-16 PER CENT

-PROTEIN 8-15 PER CENT

-ASH 1.5-2.0 PER CENT

-CARBOHYDRATE 68-74 PER CENT

VARIETIES OF SORGHUM CROP

1/ Serewa

2/ Lulu

3/Macia             
                              image showing sorghum