Sorghum

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This article is about the plant genus. For the principal species used in crops, see Sorghum bicolor. For the commercial use of Sorghum species, see Commercial sorghum. For other uses, see Sorghum (disambiguation).

Sorghum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Panicoideae
Tribe:	Andropogoneae
Genus:	Sorghum L.
Species
About 30 species, see text

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants, either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents in addition to the southwest Pacific and Australasia. Sorghum is in the subfamily Panicoideae and the tribe of Andropogoneae (the tribe of big bluestem and sugar cane).

Contents 1 Cultivation and uses 2 Species 3 Hybrids 4 Sorghum genome 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Cultivation and uses

A sorghum field in Central America.

One species, Sorghum bicolor,^[1] is an important world crop, used for food (as grain and in sorghum syrup or "sorghum molasses"), fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, and biofuels. Most varieties are drought- and heat-tolerant, and are especially important in arid regions, where the grain is one of the staples for poor and rural people. These varieties form important components of pastures in many tropical regions. Sorghum bicolor is an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia and is the "fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world".^[2]
Some species of sorghum can contain levels of hydrogen cyanide, hordenine and nitrates lethal to grazing animals in the early stages of the plant's growth. When stressed by drought or heat, plants can also contain toxic levels of cyanide and/or nitrates at later stages in growth.^[3]
Another Sorghum species, Johnson grass (S. halapense), is classified as an invasive species in the US by the Department of Agriculture.^[4]
Sorghum vulgare var. technicum is commonly called broomcorn.^[5]

Species

• Sorghum almum
• Sorghum amplum
• Sorghum angustum
• Sorghum arundinaceum
• Sorghum bicolor — cultivated sorghum, often individually called sorghum. Also known as durra, jowari or milo.
  • Sorghum bicolor subsp. drummondii — Sudan grass
• Sorghum brachypodum
• Sorghum bulbosum
• Sorghum burmahicum
• Sorghum ecarinatum
• Sorghum exstans
• Sorghum grande
• Sorghum halepense — Johnson grass
• Sorghum interjectum
• Sorghum intrans
• Sorghum laxiflorum
• Sorghum leiocladum
• Sorghum macrospermum
• Sorghum matarankense
• Sorghum nitidum
• Sorghum plumosum
• Sorghum propinquum
• Sorghum purpureosericeum
• Sorghum stipoideum
• Sorghum timorense
• Sorghum trichocladum
• Sorghum versicolor
• Sorghum verticiliflorum
• Sorghum vulgare var. technicum  — broomcorn

Hybrids

• Sorghum × almum
• Sorghum × drummondii

Sorghum genome

In 2009, a team of international researchers announced they had sequenced the sorghum genome.^[6][7]

See also

• 3-Deoxyanthocyanidin
• Apigeninidin
• Baijiu - Chinese alcoholic beverage distilled from sorghum
• List of antioxidants in food
• Millet
• Push–pull technology pest control strategy for maize and sorghum

References

1. ^ Mutegi, Evans; Fabrice Sagnard, Moses Muraya, Ben Kanyenji, Bernard Rono, Caroline Mwongera, Charles Marangu, Joseph Kamau, Heiko Parzies, Santie de Villiers, Kassa Semagn, Pierre Traoré, Maryke Labuschagne (2010-02-01). "Ecogeographical distribution of wild, weedy and cultivated Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench in Kenya: implications for conservation and crop-to-wild gene flow". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 57 (2): 243–253. doi:10.1007/s10722-009-9466-7.
2. ^ Sorghum, U.S. Grains Council.
3. ^ Cyanide (prussic acid) and nitrate in sorghum crops - managing the risks. Primary industries and fisheries. Queensland Government. http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/4790_20318.htm. 21 April 2011.
4. ^ Johnson Grass, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Accessed 2257 UDT, 12 March, 2009.
5. ^ Broomcorn, Alternative Field Crops Manual, Purdue University, Accessed 14 Mar 2011.
6. ^ Sequencing of sorghum genome completed EurekAlert, January 28, 2010, Retrieved August 30, 2010
7. ^ Paterson, A.; Bowers, J.; Bruggmann, R.; Dubchak, I.; Grimwood, J.; Gundlach, H.; Haberer, G.; Hellsten, U. et al. (2009). "The Sorghum bicolor genome and the diversification of grasses". Nature 457 (7229): 551–556. Bibcode 2009Natur.457..551P. doi:10.1038/nature07723. PMID 19189423. edit

• Watson, Andrew M. Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 0-521-24711-X.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sorghum

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Sorghum

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Sorghum.

• Species Profile- Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for Johnsongrass.
• Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal reliable information source on where and what to conserve ex-situ, regarding Sorghum genepool
• FAO Report (1995) "Sorghum and millets in human nutrition"
• FAO "Compendium on post-harvest operations"—Contains discussion on origin, processing and uses of sorghum
• Grain Sorghum Irrigation
• Sorghum on US Grains Council Web Site
• National Grain Sorghum Producers
• National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association
• Sorghum handbook, US Grain Council
• Sorghum Growth Stages
• Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association, organization for the promotion and development of sweet Sorghum as a source for biofuels, especially ethanol
• Milo, Grain Sorghum
• Cyanide (prussic acid) and nitrate in sorghum crops - managing the risks

THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY

The Legend of St. Valentine

The history of Valentine's Day--and the story of its patron saint--is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Valentine's Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Typical Valentine's Day Greetings

In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

TOUCHING STORY Of VICTOR MOSES THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY (MUST READ)

TOUCHING STORY Of VICTOR MOSES THAT WILL MAKE YOU CRY (MUST READ)

This is the story of a young boy whose parents were murdered during 2002 riots in Kaduna, Nigeria. He was aged 11 years at the time. His parents, Mr Austine and Mrs Josephine Moses, were missionaries until they met their untimely death.

The boy left his house to play football but returned home to see that all his parents had laboured for had been razed down and he would never see his mother and father again.

He was taken to London by his uncle almost immediately after the incident. While in London, he began deploying his football skills. Though his parents were murdered, his passion for football was never killed. He played football for his school and later for a local Tandrige League club until Crystal Palace FC approached him. From that point, his career progressed in leaps and bounds.

This player played for England's under 16, 17, 19 and 21 teams between 2005 and 2010 scoring 11 goals for England during this period. He later moved to Wigan Athletic and now he plays for Chelsea. This footballer is called VICTOR MOSES.

His story is a touching one, I share his pains. I also share his courage. He had a choice not to step into Nigeria again but he didn't take that option. When the call to serve his fatherland came, Moses dumped England and embraced Nigeria... That is patriotism!

Today, we see a Victor Moses bringing joy to every Nigerian including those who may have inspired his parent's death... That is Love!
On Sunday, Moses would stand for the National Anthem and pledge allegiance to a country that couldn't defend his parents... That is faith!

Moses would deliver the "African Cup of Nations" trophy to Nigeria not minding what had happened in the past... That is forgiveness! Moses rose through bitterness and despair to the limelight of hope and courage.
He never gave up on his country. He persevered... That is purpose!

GOD BLESS MOSES