Use of the drought-resilient summer crop has been constrained by the small size of sorghum grains, but Professor David Jordan from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation said that could be about to change.
“Sorghum is Australia’s third-largest grain crop, providing vital feed to animals, but it is increasingly being used in cereals and other foods for human consumption,” he said.
“Sorghum has been an important dietary source of starch in Africa for thousands of years, but it is increasingly valued in Western diets as a low-GI, gluten-free and nutritious grain.
“Larger grains make it more digestible for both people and animals and improves processing efficiency.”
Sorghum is popular among Australian growers, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales, and the research will help breeders to expand the crop’s potential.
The project began six years ago, involving UQ and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
QAAFI Research Fellow Dr Yongfu Tao initially mapped the sorghum genome to help identify which genes were associated with grain size, narrowing the search with existing genetic information for rice and maize.
“New variants have been identified that are capable of doubling grain weight,” Dr Tao said.
“These traits are strongly inherited, with genes accounting for as much as 80 per cent of the grain size characteristics.
