Comparative assessment of nutritional and functional properties of different sorghum genotypes for ensuring nutritional security in dryland agro-ecosystem

Maw Ni Soe Htet; Baili Feng; Honglu Wang; Lixin Tian; Vivek Yadav

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1048789

Comparative assessment of nutritional and functional properties of different sorghum genotypes for ensuring nutritional security in dryland agro-ecosystem

Front Nutr. 2022 Nov 9:9:1048789. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1048789. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Maw Ni Soe Htet^{1

2

3}, Baili Feng¹, Honglu Wang¹, Lixin Tian¹, Vivek Yadav⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Farming System in Northwestern Loess Plateau, College of Agronomy, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China.
³ Rice Bio Park Research Section, Post-Harvest Technology and Food Science Research Division, Department of Agricultural Research, Naypyidaw, Myanmar.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China.

Abstract

The cultivation of unique sorghum (resistant to abiotic stresses and re-recognized as healthy food) has attracted interest as an environmentally friendly minor cereal and may be a solution to food and nutritional security. However, information about how the use of selected sorghum grains affects nutritive values and its functional properties from sorghum flours is still lacking. To address this question, we selected six sorghum varieties (i.e., JinZa 34, LiaoZa 19, JinNuo 3, JiZa 127, JiNiang 2, and JiaXian) for the comprehensive analysis of the relationship among nutritional compositions, energy value contributions, and functional properties of sorghum grains. Results showed that Carr's index (CI) and angle of repose (AR) of all sorghum flours indicated good flow and compressibility properties in terms of micrometric parameters. All sorghums were considered free of tannin. Based on the scatterplot analysis, the proportions of energy contributions due to protein, fat, and carbohydrate (CHO), were highly positively correlated with protein, fat, and CHO, respectively. The significantly different flours of six sorghum varieties resulted in different functional properties. The amylose content showed a highly negative association with light transmittance and water and oil absorption capacities. In addition, amylose had a highly positive relationship with water solubility (WS) and swelling power (SP). JinNuo 3 had the highest nutritional compositions [proximate, mineral, anti-nutritional values, and amino acid (AA) profiles] and functional properties indicating that it could be used as a brewing liquor. Our findings will provide a new opportunity to cultivate sorghum as an environment friendly minor cereal crop in dryland agro-ecosystems of arid and semi-arid regions of northern China for nutritional security, agriculture processing, and non-food industry in the future.

Keywords: functional properties; micrometric properties; nutritive values; quality traits; sorghum varieties.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFD1000700 and 2019YFD1000702), the National Millet Crops Research and Development System (CARS-06-13.5-A26), Minor Grain Crops Research and Development System of Shaanxi Province (2009-2021), and the Shaanxi Province Agricultural Collaborative Innovation and Extension Alliance Project (LMZD201803).