Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

Hybrid sorghums are widely grown in South Asia and Latin America, and also

have good yield potential in Africa. Yields of these hybrids often achieve more than

50% of the control varieties, but the production of hybrid seed is still not as well

developed as other crops such as maize.

Some varieties are available which have some resistance to the parasitic Striga

weed, as well as some lines of sorghum which display some tolerance to soil acidity

and aluminium toxicity.

There are more than 30 different species of sorghum, and several thousand

varieties, and there is some disagreement between botanists about their

classification. Nevertheless, there are roughly speaking five main types; in between

these five types there are many examples of plants with botanical characteristics of

two or more types—not surprising considering that man has cultivated and selected

sorghums for thousands of years, and they also cross-pollinate readily.

The five main types of sorghum are listed below:

1. Grain Sorghums:
   Mainly grown for their large, relatively palatable seed. There are many different
   examples:
   Milo—S. subglabrescens. Compact, goose-necked heads; many tillers.
   Kafir Corn—S. caffrorum. Small, cylindrical heads.
   Hegari—similar to Kafir, but thinner stems and more leaves.
   Feterita—S. caudatum. Large white seed, which shatters readily.

Guinea Corn—S. guineense. Grown in West Africa.

Shallu—S. roxburghii. Grown in India.

Kaoliang—S. nervosum. Grown in China and the Far East.

Hybrids—the yield potential of sorghum has been doubled by the development of

hybrids, which was made possible initially by the discovery 50 years ago of two

plants which were male sterile.

2. Sorgos:

animal food, hay and silage and for the production of syrup. The fresh, young stems

are often eaten by humans.

3. Grass Sorghums:
   These are also grown for animal fodder. The most well known is Sudan Grass (var.
   sudanensis).


4. Broomcorn (Broom sorghum):
   Sorghum dochna (Syn. S. bicolor var. technicum). Grown for their stiff stems and
   heads suitable for making brooms and brushes. “Broomcorn” is also a frequently
   used name for Common, or Proso, Millet (Panicum miliaceum).


5. Special purpose sorghums:

136 TONY WINCH

manufacture of starch.

Examples include Pop Sorghum (similar to Popcorn), and varieties developed for the

These are the so-called “sweet” or amber sorghums, which are mainly grown for

Durra—S. durra. Bearded, fuzzy heads. Seed normally white. Grown mainly in

the Sudan, North Africa and India.