Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. - Plant for the future in Moldavia agriculture (Romania) and for the human nutrition

Abstract

In the climatic conditions of the Center of Moldavia (Romania), there are eight sorghum hybrids cultivated for grains (Arsky, Foehn, Albanus, Shamal, Kalatur şi Armorik, Elan and Alimentar) in order to establish their adaptability to the conditions of the area, by taking into account the current problems of agriculture caused by climate change and the need to find a solutions to fight hunger and improve human health. This study focused on two directions, namely: identifying genotypes that achieve the highest productions and establishing food value and the benefits of sorghum grains on human health by analysing the physico chemical composition of the grains, by determining the mineral content of the grain and by determining the composition in amino acids. The grain production had ranged from 8623 kg/ha to 11181 kg/ha. This production had characterized by a protein content between 8.84 % and 12.80 %, in lipid content between 3.39 % and 4.15 %, in raw fibre content between 2.15 % and 3.95 % and the starch content was between 66.70 % and 74.66 %. The analysed mineral content of the sorghum samples has the following values (mg/100g a.s.): phosphorus - 280 - 330; potassium - 520 - 610; calcium - 2.4 - 3.9; magnesium - 260 - 290; iron - 11.6 - 18.9; zinc - 1.94 - 2.42; copper - 0.23 - 0.36; manganese - 1.60 - 1.97. Analysing the amino acid composition of sorghum samples it can be said that the samples contain all the essential amino acids, in concentrations that, some of them, exceed the recommended daily dose (FAO/WHO/UNU): leucine, isoleucine, histidine, valine. Also the analysed sorghum seeds add an important content of methionine, threonine and phenylalanine.

Keywords

• climatic change
• genotypes
• mineral composition
• grain sorghum
• yield