The sorghum It is not one of the best known crops for the Mediterranean diet but there are those who predict a brilliant future to this cereal. One of his strengths is not in what he has except what he lacks: gluten. Another feature that could bring this food closer to our dishes is in its resistance. Or that’s what some researchers are looking for.
To hunt varieties. Researchers such as Melinda Yerka, from the University of Nevada in Reno, responsible for the development of 200 variants of this seed. The objective is to create drought more resistant varieties capable of rooting and producing livestock and people in a changing climate context.
Fifth in discord. Sorghum is not a regular of our dishes but it is one of cereal crops most important worldwide after the “great three” (rice, wheat and corn) and barley. FAO (the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) esteem that in 2022 there were about 58 million tons of this grain, being the largest producers Nigeria, Sudan and the United States.
In the US, the sorghum is mainly used to feed cattle, but this grain can be and is widely used as food. Sorghum is a known gluten -free cereal of the gastronomies of several countries in Asia and Africa, the latter continent from which it is originally.
This cereal can even be used fermented as wheat and barley to Create beers or in the preparation of biofuels.
Great tolerance. Beyond the uses to which this grain can be dedicated, if something highlights the Yerka team is the resistance of the new variants created. The preliminary studies of the team highlighted their great tolerance against drought although some variants with high levels of protein and digestible starch also highlighted.
Based on these first analyzes, the team estimates that the seeds achieve optimal development when they receive between 50.8 and 63.5 centimeters of annual water, considerably less than what crops such as alfalfa require.
Prepared for semi-aridity. The new varieties have been created thinking about the semi-aridity conditions of the west of the United States but their developers believe that they could serve farmers from other areas with similar climates worldwide to have at their disposal a new food alternative for their cattle. An alternative with the advantage of requiring lower water use.
“Many foods devised for the dairy industry in the US face a fall or variable productions due to late frosts, floods, heat and droughts associated with climate change, which underlines the need for more resilient alternatives that can prosper in conditions of change in the climate,” he explained In a press release Yerka herself.
Market the advance. The Yerka Laboratory at Nevada University has been operating Since 2017 But since 2023 it has its own project for the marketing of the fruits of its work, Yerka Seeds.
Image | Melinda Yerka / Mustapha Damilola
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