Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum (grain)

Useful reference: 460

Sorghums are grown for grain and also for forage in areas with inadequate rainfall for satisfactory maize cropping. There are two general types: the sweet sorghums, which have stems filled with a sweet juice, and the grain sorghums, which usually have pithy stems. Sweet sorghums are grown for forage rather than grain. There are many varieties of grain sorghum, but the composition of their grain does not differ enough to affect significantly their feed qualities. All varieties are annual maizelike gasses more than 2 m high. Sorghum requires similar soil conditions to maize but can grow in drier climates.

GRAIN. When properly supplemented, sorghum grains are excellent for all classes of livestock. The grains have to be processed before being fed to cattle, else a large proportion of the grains will be swallowed whole and the waxy bran covering the grain will make digestion difficult. Grinding is the simplest, least expensive method of preparing sorghum grain for cattle; other methods include dry-rolling, steam-rolling, flaking and popping. All methods produce end products with different degrees of digestibility. Sheep can be given whole sorghum grains as they masticate them more thoroughly. Whole grain can also be fed to pigs and poultry, but cracked or ground grain gives somewhat better feed efficiency especially with small-seeded varieties or very dry grains. For best results the grain must be ground only moderately fine, as too finely ground grain decreases consumption. When sorghum grain is replacing maize, it must be borne in mind that sorghum lacks carotene and should therefore be supplemented with about 3% dried green feed. Sorghum has the disadvantage of tending to cause constipation.

STARCH-EXTRACTED GRAIN. When the starch is extracted from sorghum grain, the by-products from this process; gluten feed and gluten meal, can be used as feeds. The following is a now chart of the normal process:

	                        SORGHUM 
                                   |   
            Steepwater             |   
         +--------------------- Steeping 
         |                         |              Germ 
    Evaporation               Germ separation ---------+ 
         |                         |                   | 
         |                      Grinding          Pressing   Oil
   Steepwater                      |                   | 
   Concentrate      Fibre          |                   | 
         +--------------------- Screening              | 
         |                         |                   | 
      Drying                       |               OIL MEAL 
         |                         |                   | 
         +-------------------------+-------------------+ 
         |                         | 
      SORGHUM            +---- Centrifuging--------- Starch 
      GLUTEN             |     
       FEED           Drying   
        |                |   
        |            Sorghum gluten
        |               |  
        +---------------+ 
       SORGHUM   
       GLUTEN    
        MEAL

SORGHUM GLUTEN FEED. It has a bitter taste and should be mixed with a more palatable feedstuff such as molasses. In cattle feed it can constitute up to one third of the concentrate portion.

SORGHUM GLUTEN MEAL. Unidentified deficiencies make sorghum gluten meal unsuitable as poultry feeds and it should not exceed 4% of the total ration for pigs. A satisfactory supplement for cattle can be obtained by mixing equal quantities of sorghum gluten meal and cottonseed meal.

					As % of dry matter

				DM	CP	CF	Ash	EE	NFE	Ca	P	Ref

Sorghum grain,
Israel				89.0	10.9	2.1	3.3	3.9	79.8	0.19	0.20	365

Sorghum grain,
USA				90.7	13.9	1.7	1.8	3.5	79.1			39

Hegari grain,
Thailand				87.7	11.0	1.8	1.5	0.8	84.9			56

Black kaffir
grain, USA				90.4	15.6	1.8	2.0	3.9	79.7			39

Red kaffir grain,
USA				90.4	13.3	1.7	1.9	3.5	79.6			"

Feterita grain, USA				90.4	15.5	1.7	1.9	3.2	77.7			"

Dari grain				88.9	10.8	2.1	2.7	4.3	80.1			512

Sorghum bran, USA				88.0	8.9	8.6	2.4	5.5	74.6			198

Sorghum hominy
feed, USA				89.0	11.2	3.8	2.7	6.5	75.8			"

Sorghum gluten
feed, USA				89.5	24.6	9.5	8.2	4.9	52.8			500

Sorghum gluten
meal, USA				89.3	46.9	5.3	3.8	7.2	36.8			"

Sorghum oil meal,
USA				98.1	16.6	13.2	1.6	7.8	60.8			"


							Digestibility (%)
					Animal		CP	CF	EE	NFE	ME	Ref

Grain					Sheep		54.0	64.0	84.0	83.0	2.96	365

Grain					Pigs		77.0	64.0	62.0	90.0	3.61	499


					Nylon bag degradability

						a	b	c		12hr	48hr	Ref
						(%)	(%)	(/hour)		(%)	(%)

Sorghum, var. Farida,
Nigeria					DM	20.8	49.4	0.038			62.5	627

	[P (rumen degradability at time t) = a+b(1-exp(-ct))]


		Amino acid composition as % of crude protein

Seed											Ref	372
Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
3.5	1.0	3.1	2.5	3.8	13.9	2.1	0.4	5.4	3.8	-	4.1	4.7

Hybrid Seed											Ref	447

Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
4.1	2.3	3.4	2.4	4.0	13.6	2.4	1.9	5.1	3.5	-	4.1	4.7

Gluten feed											Ref	500

Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
3.2	1.6	4.0	2.0	2.8	8.0	1.6	1.6	3.2	3.2	0.4	2.4	5.6

Gluten meal											Ref	500

Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
2.2	1.2	2.2	1.6	3.6	12.8	1.0	1.6	4.8	2.2	0.6	3.6	4.4

Germ oil meal											Ref	500

Arg	Cys	Gly	His	Ils	Leu	Lys	Met	Phe	Thr	Try	Tyr	Val
4.7	2.4	5.3	2.9	3.5	7.6	2.4	2.9	4.1	3.5	5.9	2.4	5.3

References

39, 56, 198, 365, 372, 460, 499, 500, 512, 627

Abstracts

Cattle(108), Cattle(380), Cattle(444), Cattle(684), Dairy(479), Forage(418), Forage(527), Goats(38), Goats(212), Goats(472), Hay(87), NaOH treatment(355), NaOH treatment(472), Poultry(233), Poultry(318), Poultry(377), Rabbits(57), Sheep(87), Sheep(212), Sheep(303), Sheep(472), Silage(108), Silage(479), Stover(475)