# Talk:Sorghum

It was also extremely commonly referred to as Chinese sugar cane in the 19th century / 1800s (and quite possibly further back). I'm not going to edit the article; maybe one of you can do it.

I'd like to upload a new section on the uses of alternative uses for Sorghum, with a focus on its potential for biofuel production. For this, I've prepared the following text, to which I've attached references. For some reason it won't let me format the references nicely though. My idea was to add this section to the "Use" section, deleting the 2nd sentence and adding the following text towards the end of the section, just after the pictures. Here is the text (again, the editing is messed up from what I have in my sandbox sadly, so there's a few references and links to other pages that don't appear very well)
Sorghum can also be used to produce [ethanol] as a viable alternative to corn. The energy ratio (output/input) for the production of fuel ethanol is similar to that of sugarcane, and much higher than that of corn [1]. Extracted fermentable carbohydrates can be easily fermented into ethanol because of the simple sugar structure. Residuals contain enough energy to power the ethanol processing facilities used to produce fuel ethanol [2]. As of December 2018, costs for processing sorghum into fuel ethanol (including price of produce[3], transport and processing costs) are cost competitive with corn [4]. Sorghum also has a lower nitrogen fertilizer requirement than corn[5].
To turn it into fuel ethanol, sorghum juice is concentrated into syrup for long term storage, then fermented into ethanol through the batch fermentation process[6].
Alternative uses of sorghum.
Sorghum is a versatile crop with a wide range of alternative uses beyond its traditional roles as a food staple and animal feed.
Due to its high carbohydrate content, sweet sorghum is a good candidate to produce biohydrogen through bacterial fermentation. It also serves as an effective carbon source for lipid-rich organisms, such as Auxenochlorella protothecoides, making it a promising candidate for lipid production as well. [7].
Sweet Sorghum syrup can be utilized to synthesize metal nanoparticles that have antimicrobial properties [8] or other biomedicine and biotechnology uses [9].
Sorghum poses several compounds that can be useful for human health care. Sorghum grain and sorghum bagasse are very good sources of Xylooligosaccharides which have several healthcare benefits in addition to its basic nutritional value like a better calcium absorption, stimulation of beneficial gut microflora, decrease of blood glucose and cholesterol concentration and decrease in pro-carcinogenic enzymes in gastrointestinal tract [10].
Other compounds of interest include antioxidant compounds.
Tannins (phytochemicals present in sorghum) have the potential to reduce weight gain[11].
Along with other cereals, sorghum seeds and sorghum bagasse have the potential to produce lactic acid via fermentation which can be used for the production of Polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable thermoplastic resin[12].
Sources in order of apparition
^ Briand, C., Geleta, S., & Kratochvil, R. (2018). Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) a potential biofuel feedstock: Analysis of cultivar performance in the Mid-Atlantic. Renewable Energy, 129, 328-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.06.004
^ A. S. Bennett, & R. P. Anex. (2008). Farm-gate production costs of sweet sorghum as a Bioethanol feedstock. Transactions of the ASABE, 51(2), 603-613. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.24360
^ ESS: 4. Concepts on price data. (n.d.). https://www.fao.org/economic/the-statistics-division-ess/methodology/methodology-systems/price-statistics-and-index-numbers-of-agricultural-production-and-prices/4-concepts-on-price-data/en/#:~:text=The%20farm%20gate%20prices%20are,in%20the%20farm%20gate%20prices
^ Bennett, A. S., & Anex, R. P. (2009). Production, transportation and Milling costs of sweet sorghum as a feedstock for centralized bioethanol production in the upper Midwest. Bioresource Technology, 100(4), 1595-1607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2008.09.023
^ Geng, S., Hills, F. J., Johnson, S. S., & Sah, R. N. (1989). Potential yields and on‐farm ethanol production cost of corn, sweet sorghum, Fodderbeet, and Sugarbeet. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, 162(1), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-037x.1989.tb00683.x
^ Li, X., Dong, Y., Chang, L., Chen, L., Wang, G., Zhuang, Y., & Yan, X. (2022). Develop dynamic hybrid modeling of fuel ethanol fermentation process by integrating biomass concentration XGBoost model and kinetic parameters artificial neural network model into mechanism model. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4181174
^ Industrial crops. (2015). Handbook of Plant Breeding. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1447-0
^ Kumar, C. G., Mamidyala, S. K., Reddy, M. N., & Reddy, B. V. (2012). Silver glyconanoparticles functionalized with sugars of sweet sorghum syrup as an antimicrobial agent. Process Biochemistry, 47(10), 1488-1495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2012.05.023
^ Kumar, C. G., Mamidyala, S. K., Sreedhar, B., & Reddy, B. V. (2011). Synthesis and characterization of gold glyconanoparticles functionalized with sugars of sweet sorghum syrup. Biotechnology Progress, 27(5), 1455-1463. https://doi.org/10.1002/btpr.650
^ Samanta, A., Jayapal, N., Jayaram, C., Roy, S., Kolte, A., Senani, S., & Sridhar, M. (2015). Xylooligosaccharides as prebiotics from agricultural by-products: Production and applications. Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre, 5(1), 62-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcdf.2014.12.003
^ Dykes, L. (2019). Sorghum phytochemicals and their potential impact on human health. Methods in Molecular Biology, 121-140. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9039-9_9
^ Wee, Y., Kim, J., & Ryu, H. (2006). Biotechnological production of lactic acid and its recent applications. DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals). https://doaj.org/article/206aab8f95184a818e1f54fcb9c05d17 Bvassort (talk) 12:50, 1 December 2024 (UTC)

Bvassort Interesting, but clearly needs work as a first effort on Wikipedia. It is generally a good idea to start small so as to get used to editing (and other editors!), citing, and the many policies and procedures that litter the environment.
However, your immediate need is to find a simple way to cite your sources inline. The Citer tool at https://citer.toolforge.org/ allows you to input a DOI directly and simply copy a nearly-fully-formatted 'ref' into the text where you're written "[1]" etc. After that the wiki-browser automatically formats the ref in the reflist which will be exactly what you want to happen.
I suggest you try this in your sandbox first... All the best, Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:59, 1 December 2024 (UTC)
Hi, thanks for the feedback. As I said, for some reason the referencing works better in my sandbox (i.e. looks like the references you'd see on a wikipedia page), and I also have a few links to other pages (Wikipedia and other).
I'll work on the references using the tool you gave, see if that helps. Any feedback on the content?
Again, I really just posted the content here without proper formatting, which I realize is a mistake now... Bvassort (talk) 10:29, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
Not very keen on reviewing unformatted talk page content, but Wikipedia is strict on sourcing for medical claims (WP:MEDRS - basically, you can't claim any effects without conclusive proof from systematic reviews). Language like "versatile crop" is risky and best avoided; I guess you could get it in by attributing the phrase directly to a named agronomist, with source, but it's easier just to avoid such things. The "good candidate" and "have the potential" thingy is basically crystal ball gazing; any starchy substance would do for a fuel (or any carbon source, given enough enzymes), and the proof of the pudding is, as always, in the eating, i.e. when someone has a production line running it'll be worth mentioning. Editors are required to be both neutral and somewhat sceptical; journalists hired to promote products and ideas are not. All the best, Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:12, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
Alright, I understand. I think I see what you're saying, I'll change the text accordingly (and also the format :)).
Thanks a lot! Bvassort (talk) 11:21, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Sorghum is also used to make packing peanuts. I know this because a company called Little Seed Farm uses them. They smell like popcorn. Would be nice if someone could add that to the page with information about how they are made or what else they might add to make them. 24.105.228.189 (talk) 01:16, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

@Chiswick Chap: I moved a suggested etymology of "Sorghum" from the "Spread" section, because it didn't seem to be a good fit. This was reverted. I maintain: the etymology of the word shouldn't be in the section dealing with the geographical spread of the crop. Does anyone have any suggestions?--AntientNestor (talk) 09:53, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

Ah yes, it got separated from 'Description' while the article was being restructured with new subsections. I've put it back there now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:57, 16 April 2025 (UTC)
OK, thanks. AntientNestor (talk) 10:22, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

This is unnecessarily complicated KirkiArty (talk) 05:19, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

Oppose. It's not complicated at all. This species is widely known as sorghum, so the article is so named, per WP:COMMONNAME; botanists use the name for the genus. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:16, 11 November 2025 (UTC)