The sorghum or Sorghum spp., is a genus of Poaceae (grasses) composed of approximately 31 species. Some of those it comprises are located within the five most consumed cereals worldwide.
Plants of this genus are rhizomatous or stoloniferous, with a well-developed root system that allows them to store reserves, and a greater ability to penetrate the soil to be able to withstand dry weather or water stress for longer..
It has alternate, linear or lanceolate, narrow or broad leaves. The flowers are grouped in paniculate inflorescences or spikes that form between 400 to 8000 grains, and whose energy value is approximately 1.08 Mcal / kg..
The uses of these plants are mainly to make flours that can be consumed by humans, as well as to make food for breeding and fattening animals. The panicles are also used to make brooms, and syrups and sugars are produced from the stems, among others..
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These are plants with a rhizomatous or stoloniferous habit, annual or perennial. The plants of this genus develop a profuse root system that gives them a well-developed support to be able to accumulate many reserves..
In addition to this, this root system allows it greater penetration capacity into the soil, and greater resistance to dry climates where water stress can last for a long time..
They develop culms (thick stems) about 60 to 300 cm tall. These culms are herbaceous in nature, slightly branched or with some higher branching. Culm internodes can be solid or hollow.
The leaves are alternate, serrated, linear or lanceolate, and can be wide or narrow (without cordate or sagittal shape). They present persistent cross venation, and the shoots appear curled.
In this type of plants the presence of ligule is characteristic. The leaves can chitinize in dry periods and delay the desiccation of the plant.
Sorghum plants develop spike or panicle-shaped inflorescences, some species are hermaphroditic and male, and others are hermaphroditic and sterile..
Paired spikelets can be sessile or pedicellate, long or short. The shortest are hermaphroditic, while the longest are male or sterile..
Each panicle forms between 400 to 8000 grains, whose energy value is approximately 1.08 Mcal / kg, its protein content is higher than that of corn, but it is poorer in terms of fat..
The color of the grain can be translucent white varying to reddish brown. In this variation, sorghum can present colors such as pink, yellow, red, brown. The shape of the grain or seed is spherical and oblong, and they measure more or less 3 mm.
Sorghum, like other plants, exerts a detrimental or beneficial effect directly or indirectly on other species, due to the release of chemical compounds especially from its roots.
This crop can protect the space it occupies around each plant. To do this, sorghum through its roots releases toxins into the soil, which inhibits the growth of other plants around it..
This released compound, or toxin, is known as sorgoleone, and is known to be more active in fighting weeds than other allelopathic substances produced by other plants..
Specifically, this plant produces sorgoleone in its root and root hairs, and thanks to this compound the maintenance and cleaning of the crop are easier..
As in other C4 grass plants, sorghum species possess the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, responsible for maintaining photosynthetic efficiency under conditions of water stress. This is because this enzyme has the ability to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide and supply it during the photosynthesis process..
On the other hand, the sorghum tissue, when suffering from water stress, responds with a stomatal closure to avoid or reduce water loss in this way. In addition, you can adjust the osmotic potential of the cell so that the water potential is reduced and thus maintain the fluidity of the water..
In addition, sorghum can enter a dormant phase when the amount of water is not sufficient for its development. In this way, sorghum species begin a dormant phase, which ends when water is available again..
-Kingdom: Plantae
-Phylum: Tracheophyta
-Class: Liliopsida
-Order: Poales
-Family: Poaceae
-Gender: Sorghum
Some of the species of this genus are: Sorghum almum, Sorghum bicolor, Sorghum bulbosum, Sorghum controversum, Sorghum grande, Sorghum halepense, Sorghum instrans, Sorghum laxiflorum, Sorghum nitidum, Sorghum plumosum, Sorghum stipoideum, Sorghum virgatum, Sorghum versicolor, among other.
Sorghum includes both cultivable species and wild species. It grows in tropical regions, in warm climates and where there is an incidence of water stress.
Its distribution is cosmopolitan. Can grow in meadows, hillsides, savannas, streams, valleys, vacant lots, or as a weed in the field.
Sorghum flowers are pollinated by insects or by the wind. These plants are mainly self-pollinated, that is, a plant only accepts pollen from its own flowers..
However, sorghum can also reproduce thanks to pollen from other plants (cross pollination). Pollen is viable between 3 and 6 hours in the anther, while outside it it can last 10 to 20 minutes.
The fertilization process lasts 2 hours, and the maturation of the grain can take up to 35 days after that process.
In general, the cultivation of sorghum species should have a suggested fertilization according to the soil analysis and the characteristics of each species. However, the recommendation that is normally used is 90-60-30 kg / ha of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively..
On the other hand, if fertilizer with the 10-30-10 NPK formula is used, it is necessary to add 184 kg per hectare at the time of sowing, and 22 days after emergence apply either 174 kg of urea, 242 kg of nitrate of ammonium or, in the case of ammonium sulfate 372 kg.
In this way, the extraction of nitrogen increases in accordance with the increase in yield, and as the nitrogen is concentrated in various structures of the plant.
Sorghum can be processed to increase the nutritional value of feed supplied to animals such as poultry, cattle and pigs, or some pets. This crop has a high content of cellulose, lignin, carbohydrates, which makes it a great source of energy and high-quality protein for raising and fattening animals..
For example, in pig production, excess energy is stored as body fat, and this is the highest cost element in this commercial activity..
The ensiled panicle or ear, as well as the dry grain, is used as an energy source for feeding fattening pigs. On the other hand, sorghum is used for poultry feeding through its concentrate, since this guarantees a good development and balanced growth. The concentrate of this grain combines carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats.
This plant has industrial purposes similar to those of corn. For example, starch, dextrose, edible oils, beverages such as beer, colorants, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, paper, coffee mixes and meat products are produced from it..
On the other hand, the ears or panicles of this crop are used to make brooms, or go through a burning process to collect ash with a high concentration of potassium..
Otherwise, syrups and sugars, ethanol or sorghum flour are obtained from the stems to make cakes and cookies. Also, in some regions of Africa, India and China, the grain is broken and cooked like rice, or it is ground into flour that is used to prepare unleavened bread..
This species is the representative of this genus. It is among the five most important cereals in the world along with rice, corn, wheat and oats.
It is an annual species with erect and robust culms, measuring between 3 and 5 m in height and up to 5 cm in diameter. The leaf sheaths are mealy. The grains are large.
In Africa, this sorghum is intended for human consumption, while in America and Oceania it is used to make flour and animal feed. It is widely distributed thanks to its ecological adaptability.
The agronomic advantages of this crop allow it to grow in less fertile soils, exert allelopathy, its maintenance requires little work and it is very competent in terms of its water economy to generate edible biomass.
It is a perennial species with erect culms that are 60 cm to 2 m tall. It has leaves with hairy veins or devoid of pubescence. Its leaf blades are linear, without trichomes and have lanceolate panicles..
The primary branches are whorled, the racemes are born at the ends of the most fragile branches and are composed of 2 to 4 spikelets.
This is a species that is distinguished in China and is not related to other species in that country. It is easily recognized by its bearded nodes and small shiny black spikelets..
It is a perennial species with vigorously expanded rhizomes. Culms can be 0.5 to 1.5 m tall and 4 to 6 mm in diameter..
The veins of the leaves do not have pubescence, the leaf blades are linear or linear-lanceolate. The panicle is lanceolate in a pyramidal shape, with white and soft trichomes in the basal axilla..
On the other hand, the primary branches are solitary or extend in a spiral. The upper part is highly branched, while the lower part is bare.
It is a species native to the Mediterranean region, and is now distributed as a weed in many parts of the world. It can also be used as fodder together with other sorghum species.
Sorghum is highly attacked by specific pests of each agroecosystem, which behave persistently and cause serious damage. Because of this, sorghum must be given sustained control as good soil preparation, weed control, balance alternation between hybrids and resistant varieties, eliminate crop residues, and make a wise selection of planting time..
Most pests are found in Africa and Asia, and the main ones that attack this genus are:
This insect affects the flowers and the grain in formation.
This species affects both the stems and the spikes.
It is a species that affects flowers and grain in the formation stage, just like the sorghum gnat.
It is an insect that damages the meristematic zone or growth point, thus causing necrosis..
This bug causes damage to the seeds
Other animals that can affect this crop are birds, such as sparrows, which feed on the grains in the filling phase. Likewise, blackbirds and starlings consume the ripened grains..
With regard to diseases, it has been described that they can affect grain production and decrease its nutritional quality.
Some suggestions to control the diseases are to use seeds previously treated with fungicides, sow the recommended hybrids, respect the recommended distances and planting densities in the winter and summer seasons, control weeds, fertilize properly, the elimination of crop residues and alternate crops.
It is a fungus that invades the tissues during flowering and causes the grains to fill up less, therefore losses are increased..
It is a fungus that behaves as a parasite affecting flowers that have not been pollinated, which leads to a decrease in the quantity and quality of filled grains, and makes the harvest process difficult..
These fungi can damage the grain and cause inflorescence rot.
It is a bacterium that attacks the leaf blade and prevents grain formation, thus causing a decrease in the harvest..
It is a fungus that affects grain filling and causes yield losses.
The effects are similar to those produced by Fusarium moniliforme.
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