Sorghum

• There are numerous species of grasses in the genus Sorghum that are native to subtropical regions, except for Australasia and the southwest Pacific. The species Sorghum bicolor yields seeds that are important to the diets of many Africans. The subspecies verticilliflorum, most commonly grown in Africa, produces grains, usually round, that are red, brown, bronze, pale yellow, deep purple-brown or white. Bronze and white seeds are the most common. Sorghum brought to the New World through the slave trade was called Guinea corn.
  
  

Millet

• The millets are grasses that yield small seeds that do not belong to one plant genus. Farmers in many developing countries grow millet as a cereal crop, and also for animal fodder. The most widely grown millets in order are pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucoma); foxtail millet (Setaria italic); proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), also called broom corn millet, common millet, hog millet or white millet; and finger millet (Eleusine coracana). Africans malt finger millet seeds to make beer.
  
  

Food Value

• Sorghum and millet contain high amounts of ash and are rich in phosphorous, iron and calcium. Sorghum contains roughly the same amount of protein as rice, wheat and other cereal grains. Millet, which has the highest protein level and most calcium of any grain cereal, has a mildly sweet flavor. Millet seeds are nonglutinous and are ground before cooking or boiled whole. Ground millet seeds are mixed with wheat flour for baking. Finger millet contains the lowest amount of fat and the highest amount of fiber. Both sorghum and millet lack vitamin A and vitamin C, although species are being developed that contain beta carotene, a source of vitamin A. The use of phosphorous fertilizers increases their mineral content.
  
  

Sorghum Animal Fodder

• Americans farming the hot, dry plains from South Dakota to Texas grow from 15 to 18 million acres of sorghum annually. They grow sorghum, which they call milo or milo maize, to feed cattle, just as Corn Belt farmers grow corn to fatten cattle. Sorghum has more fat and protein than corn used to fatten Corn Belt cattle. Sorghum seeds used for cattle fodder are rolled or cracked. Americans grow more sorghum than barley or oats.