Although sorghum grains contain essential nutrients like iron and zinc, the bioavailability of these nutrients is hindered by the high levels of anti-nutrients found in the grains. Raising the levels of iron and zinc nutrients while simultaneously lowering the levels of antinutrients would greatly increase the availability of nutritious foods in arid regions. Furthermore, stalks and leaves from sorghum varieties with no or low levels of hydrogen cyanide have the potential to serve as safe livestock forage thereby improving meat and milk quality suitable for human consumption. Furthermore, stalks and leaves from sorghum varieties with no/low levels of hydrogen cyanide have the potential to serve as safe livestock forage.
Dr. Scovia Adikini at NARO is developing sorghum varieties with high iron and zinc in the grain for human consumption and reduced levels of hydrogen cyanide in stalks and leaves for animal forage by identifying nutritional quality and discovery of genetic markers to enable rapid development and release of better yielding and nutritionally rich sorghum varieties adapted to dry land regions of Africa.