Sorghum; Old World Grain, New Market Potential

Sorghum is an important food, forage and industrial plant with a wide genetic diversity (more than forty thousand varieties) grown in tropical, subtropical and temperate climates of the world. In addition, sorghum production is carried out successfully in regions where abiotic factors play a restrictive role for production and where low-input agriculture is practiced.

In addition to being easily grown in areas with low precipitation, it can be easily grown in these conditions due to its photosynthetic efficiency and ability to use mineral substances at the highest level in excessively watery lands where the cultivation of other plants is difficult.

The areas where sorghum cultivation is carried out in the world are between 45° north and 40° south parallels , and it can be easily cultivated up to 3000 m above sea level. The world's leading sorghum producers can be listed as Central and Southern Africa, China, India, Central and North America, Australia and South America (Argentina and Brazil) (FAO, 2017).

Sorghum is widely used in the food industry as fermented and unfermented bread, cookies, sorghum porridge, breakfast foods, alcoholic beverages and beers, cereals, pancakes, cakes, couscous and snacks, and its grains, stems and leaves are widely used as feed for poultry and ruminants . .

Sweet sorghum is used in the production of ethanol and biogasoline due to the high sugar content in its stem and its high stem yield, and its stem after harvest is used in industry as furniture.

Compared to corn and other grains, sorghum uses water more effectively. It has been determined that sorghum, which has higher biomass yield, can be planted later and an acceptable amount of yield can be obtained in arid conditions. In cases where water is scarce, higher yields are obtained thanks to the long-term greening of the sorghum stem.

The aim in agricultural production is to achieve the highest yield by making the necessary applications for the crop plants to reach their yield potential. In order to meet the food and feed needs of the increasing human and animal population, it is imperative to develop new varieties as well as technological developments. The biggest assistant of the breeder in new variety breeding studies is " Vegetable Gene Resources ". These genetic resources and the information produced about them are very important for the variety development programs to be planned according to the needs. Biochemical analyzes and agromorphological features are widely used as a measure to determine the genetic diversity of sorghum.

Many researchers have used parameters such as acid detergent insoluble fiber (ADF), neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF), crude protein, crude oil, crude ash and digestibility analyzes to determine the potential nutritional value of feeds.

Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. ) is the fifth most important cereal in the world, which is more resistant to various environmental stresses and is generally more economical to produce than other cereals. Sorghum provides starch, protein, some vitamins and minerals for the daily diet of people in developing countries around the world. In the west, it is mainly used in the production of animal feed, biogasoline, alcohol, paper and wood materials.

Sorghum is drought resistant and adapted to regions with low inputs. Sorghum produces twice as many roots as maize and yields more by using water and plant nutrients (N, P, K) more effectively than maize and other plants. Although each kg of nitrogen application in sorghum cultivars grown in arid conditions with low fertilization rate causes an increase in grain production of 6 to 10 kg, this rate varies between 20 and 40 kg in cultivars with high fertilization rate. In addition to these features, sorghum is a plant compatible with different pH ranges (5.0-8.5), salty and poor soils in organic compounds, and high temperatures. Thanks to the phytochemicals it contains, sorghum is highly resistant to diseases and pests. In addition to these features, photosynthetic activity and mineral matter uptake are also high in extremely watery lands. World sorghum yield is 152.74kg/da on average (FAO, 2011). However, it has been reported that yields of up to 2150 kg/da are also obtained. The reason for the low yield is that it is cultivated intensively in hot and dry areas where water is limited. In a study conducted in our country under irrigated conditions, the grain yield of sorghum was obtained between 519 and 1093 kg/da. Both the yield and the quality of the new hybrid varieties are increasing day by day. With these important features, sorghum is cultivated in many parts of the world. Nigeria, India, America, Mexico, Sudan, China and Argentina are the leading countries producing sorghum. (ICRISAT; http://www.icrisat.org/ )

Developing sorghum varieties that are resistant to stresses such as high temperature and drought in the world is one of the most important breeding purposes. While sorghum varieties are used as food in Africa, America, China and India, they are mainly used as animal feed in countries such as America and Australia. Although breakfast cereals, cookies, bread, pastries, porridge, pancakes, cakes, couscous, snacks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages are made from sorghum and widely consumed in the world, its popularity is increasing day by day in countries like Japan. In particular, sorghum is the main food source of more than 500 million people in more than 30 African countries.

The value of sorghum grains in animal nutrition is very close to maize. Although the protein rate is higher than corn, the amount of digestible protein is low. The most abundant storage protein in sorghum grain is kafir proteins. These proteins bind with other proteins and starch and turn into an indigestible form by enzymes and reduce the quality. With newly developed hybrid varieties, the nutritional value was equal to maize. Sorghum grains increase the yield and milk quality of dairy cows at the same rate as corn and show that it is an alternative plant to corn.

Improvement studies for animal feeding should be started by determining the tannin ratios in local sorghum lines of our country.

Wild plants and local lines are used as genetic resources for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. For this reason, studies on wild and local lines of breeds as a source of genetic difference for cultivar breeding continue. Wild sorghum lines are widely kept as a genetic resource in breeding programs due to their adaptability and resistance to stress factors. Genetic diversity is the most important factor that strengthens the hand of the breeder in breeding studies. Success in the breeding program depends on understanding the current distribution, status and degree of inbreeding of diversity in the gene pool. Appropriate parent selection is one of the most important criteria in order to increase the effectiveness of breeding programs and to make crosses. Therefore, the characteristics and genetic differences of local lines should be determined quickly in all aspects.