Sorghum in the 21st Century: Food – Fodder – Feed – Fuel for a Rapidly Changing World

Sorghum is the most important cereal crop grown in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of Africa, Asia, Australia and Americas for food, feed, fodder and fuel. It is the fifth most important cereal crop globally after rice, wheat, maize and barley, and plays a major role in global food security. Sorghum is consumed in different forms for various end-uses. Its grain is mostly used directly for food purposes. After the release of the proceedings of two international symposia in the form of books “Sorghum in Seventies” and “Sorghum in Eighties”, global sorghum research and development have not been documented at one place. Of course, few books on sorghum have been released that focus on specific issues/research areas, but comprehensive review of all aspects of recent development in different areas of sorghum science has not been compiled in the form a single book. This book is intended to fill in a void to bridge the gap by documenting all aspects  of recent research and development in sorghum encompassing all the progress made, milestones achieved across globe in genetic diversity assessment, crop  improvement and production,  strategies for high yield, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, grain and stover quality aspects, storage, nutrition, health and industrial applications, biotechnological applications to increase production, including regional and global policy perspectives and developmental needs. This book will be an institutional effort to compile all the latest information generated in research and development in sorghum across the globe at one place.

Dr. Vilas A. Tonapi is Director of ICAR- Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, India. He is with the sorghum and Millets programme since 1990. He has also served as Head, Division of Seed Science and Technology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He had his graduation and post-graduation from UAS, Bangalaore (Dharwad campus) and Ph.D from TNAU, Coimbatore. He did his post-Doctoral from University of Queensland, Australia. His special attainments include Planning, development and management of crop improvement programs and strategies for food and nutritional security of self and cross-pollinated crops for dry and irrigated ecosystems, Participatory seed system development, Developmental initiatives in seed Technology, seed quality assurance, new seed policy and development of sustainable food and Community seed systems, Seed industry development, Protection of Plant varieties, IPR management, DUS Testing, and Research on physiological, biochemical and molecular basis of seed vigour/longevity. He has been awarded RV Swaminathan He has been the consultant to FAO on seed system development. He was part of USDA Global ergot collection and characterization mission. He has been awarded the distinguished service award to seed industry by Seedsmen Association. He has to his credit 52 research papers in peer reviewed journals, 30 authored and edited books, and more than 75 papers presented in various seminars and symposia.

B. Venkatesh Bhat is Principal scientist (Genetics & Cytogenetics) at ICAR- Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad. Dr Bhat started his career as a scientist at the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi where he conducted research on genetic improvement of forage sorghum, range grasses and forage legumes for a decade and subsequently moved to ICAR- Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad. He has two years’ post-doctoral research experience on biotechnological approaches for sorghum improvement at ICRISAT, Patancheru, He has 25 years of research experience in genetic improvement of sorghum, millets and fodder crops. His areas of research experience are forage sorghum improvement for yield and quality, sweet sorghum feed stock development, research on apomixis for fixing hybrid vigour in crops, tissue culture, genetic transformation and molecular breeding in sorghum. He has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed research articles, 16 book chapters and co-edited five books.

Dr. Reddy obtained his graduation and post-graduation certificate in the discipline of Plant Pathology from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. Worked as Plant   Pathologist at ICRISAT, subsequently worked as Senior Scientist (Technology Exchange) shifted his focus on to agriculture development projects entrusted with project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the projects on enhancing production of food, fodder and fuel in South East Asian countries. After retirement in 2015 form ICRISAT worked as Director, at MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and presently working as Director (quality control) at Patanjali Bio Research Institute, Haridwar, India. Dr. Reddy has published more than 25 research articles and 12 books and bulletins.

Timothy J. Dalton is a Professor of International Agricultural Development in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas USA.  With over 25 years of experience in ex-post and ex-ante assessment of new agricultural technologies in Africa, Asia and the United States, he studies how new varieties of sorghum, rice, and maize affect food productivity, production risk management, and nutrition, as well as the impact of natural resource degradation—primarily soils and agricultural biodiversity—on agriculture and human well-being.  He received a B.A. for Columbia University, M.S. from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from Purdue University. He is the author or co-author on over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has received more than US$37 million in competitive research funding from state, Federal, industry and foundation sources.