Alternative Uses of Sorghum - Methods and Feasibility: Indian Perspective

摘要

In India, sorghum is traditionally consumed in the form of unleavened flat bread (roti). In southern India, it is consumed in the form of sankati, annam and ganji (thin porridge). Popped sorghum and sorghum noodles are eaten as breakfast or snack foods. The rainy season grain sorghum consumption has declined during the last decade mainly due to grain deterioration by molds. Therefore, rainy season sorghum grain is priced lower than maize; hence it can replace maize as a raw material in many of the alternative uses. The possible promising alternative food products from sorghum are bakery products, maltodextrins as fat replacers in cookies, liquid or powder glucose, high fructose syrup and sorbitol. Malted sorghum can be a good alternative for baby weaning foods. The industrial products made from sorghum grain include alcohol (potable grade) and lager beer. Commercialization of alcohol production from grain is already in practice. Other technologies such as production of glucose, maltodextrins, highfructose syrup and cakes from sorghum are yet to be scaled up. The sweet sorghum with its juicy sweet stalk has potential as a bio-energy crop. Ethanol can also be produced from sweet sorghum stalk juice. Sweet sorghum products like syrup and jaggery have received good attention from dryland farmers. Shelf life and nutritive value of syrup and jaggery made from sweet sorghum and sugarcane are similar. Attempts for scaling up the technology for alcohol production from sweet sorghum were successful, but more work is needed to integrate the current production with potential market.