SWEET SORGHUM FOR BIOFUEL ENERGY: GRAIN SORGHUM FOR FOOD AND FODDERPHYTOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH BENEFITS

This review of literature highlights about commercial utilization of the bicolor race of sorghum. Sorghum bicolar is a complex, heterogeneous and consists of several distinct subraces. These include sweet sorghum, a C4 herbaceous annual grass and multipurpose crop, which consist of sweet-stalked cultivars suitably harnessed for producing value-added products like jaggery, syrup and bioethanol, besides being used for food, feed and fiber. Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) pioneered the development of sweet sorghum after introducing it to India in the mid-1970s. NARI was the first in India to produce ethanol from sweet sorghum juice developing the complete technology from crop growing to solar-powered ethanol distillation. Ethanol produced from sweet sorghum is safer for environment due to low sulphur content, low biological and chemical oxygen demand and high octane rating. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India has made the first major attempt in India to evaluate and identify the useful high biomass producing sweet sorghum germplasm from world collections. ICRISAT has contributed many hybrid high sugar sweet sorghum varieties. Most hybrids of sweet sorghum are relatively less photoperiod- sensitive. Cytoplasmic male sterility has been found in sorghum (A1–A4 systems) which has made possible the development of a hybrid seed industry. Grain sorghum is a gluten-free cereal, primarily served as food for humans or livestock feed. Sorghum is the only dietary source for 3-Deoxyanthocyanidins (3-DXAs). Sorghum grains have antioxidative, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antiobesity health benefit properties. High fiber content and poor digestibility of nutrients is a characteristic feature of sorghum grains.