Nutritional suitability of bred sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ) accessions from East Africa

Abstract

In many semi-arid and tropical areas of the world especially in sub Saharan Africa, sorghum is a staple food grain and has great potential to be used in various industries. Thirty sorghum highland and open pollinated varieties were analysed for their biochemical and physiological characteristic to determine their industrial suitability and breeding impacts. The results show that sorghum varieties have the capability to be used for different industries and can be good alternatives to other cereal varieties. Majority of the varieties like Ainamoi #1, Siaya # 24-2, Kipkelion # 2, Kipkelion # 1, Nyangezi, Uasin Gishu #1 and Uasin Gishu #2 with high starch and amylopectin contents also recorded high tannin contents and vice versa. Hybrids are bred to give low tannins, but unfortunately this also affects their starch amounts and in the long run, decreases the suitability of sorghum for industrial and domestic use. In addition, there was a significant correlation between yielding ability and plant height.