International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL CRSP)
Date of this Version
3-31-2009
Document Type
Presentation
Citation
African Studies Symposium, March 31, 2009. INTSORMIL, Kansas State University.
Abstract
INTSORMIL (funded by USAID) promotes the use and marketability of sorghum and millet in developing nations around the world.
A key objective is to provide technology transfer that will improve production, storage, marketing, and utilization of sorghum and millet.
An additional objective is to build human capital via student training and collaboration with colleagues in targeted regions of the world.
Justification: We were approached by potential collaborators from the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Niger (INRAN).
Sorghum is the second most produced cereal (after millet) in Niger.
Locally produced sorghum is generally less expensive than imported corn, yet imported corn remains the main cereal used in poultry feed (Abdoulaye et al., 2006).
It is well established that tannins have negative nutritional consequences in animals and humans and sorghum suffers from the image of necessarily having high tannin content.
Research at Kansas State University suggests that proper milling is even more important in sorghum-based than cornbased diets.
Hancock et al. (2000) proposed that adequate processing improved the nutritive value of sorghum in monogastrics to near that of corn.
Comments
PDF of slides.