Sorghum

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), also called great millet or guinea corn, is an annual grass of the Poaceae, 0.5–3 m tall with solid, erect stems whose nodes are often dusted with white wax. Leaves are long and strap-shaped, alternate, with long sheaths wrapping the stem. The inflorescence is a fairly dense terminal panicle bearing hundreds of small caryopsis grains; ripe grain occurs in many colours (white, yellow, red, brown, black). Sorghum is a short-day plant, heat-loving and strongly drought-tolerant; it is mostly self-pollinating. There are two main groups: grain sorghum and sweet sorghum (sugar-rich stems), plus ornamental cultivars with large red heads. The species is native to Africa (Sahel), domesticated about 8,000 years ago, and is now the world's fifth most important cereal.

In Vietnam sorghum is grown sporadically in the Central Highlands, the Southeast and some northern uplands, sometimes ornamentally or for grain used in porridge and cakes. Worldwide the grain is milled into flour for flatbreads, porridge, sorghum rice and bo bo dishes; grain is also used for livestock and poultry feed and for bioethanol. Sweet sorghum stalks are pressed for syrup and fermentation feedstocks, and in many African countries sorghum is brewed into traditional beers (dolo, burukutu). Dried panicles are bundled into brooms, while stems, leaves and bagasse serve as fodder, fuel and erosion-control mulch. Sorghum tolerates drought and acid soils at low cost, so it is valued as a climate-resilient staple.