Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1919 — Grain Sorghums Are Found Worthy of Use and Furnish Desirable, Wholesome Food [ARTICLE]

Grain Sorghums Are Found Worthy of Use and Furnish Desirable, Wholesome Food

Although the protein of the grain sorghums is less digestible tiian that of corn or wheat, all of the sorghums except kaoliang furnish a fairly good source of protein and practically as good a source of carbohydrates as the two grains in most general use. Specialists of the United States department of agriculture, in experiments found that the grain sorghums are worthy of use in all sections to give variety to the diet. Ih regions where other cereals are not so successfully grown,' it is pointed out, the grain sorghums may contribute materially to the supply of substances suitable as human food. Tests were made with kafir, feterlta, mllo and kaoliang, both in the form of bread and as mush. Check tests also were made with corn and wheat as breads. All six of the grains were ground into meals of the same fineness in the same mill. In the experiments with the breads, the average digestibility of the protein of the wheat was found to be 77.3 per cent; corn, 59.9; kafir, 51.2; feterita, 50.6; milo, 40; and kaoliang, 19.8. In the experiments w’ith mushes made from meals of the four grain sorghums, the digestibility of the protein was about 48 per cent for feterita and kafir, approximately 34 per cent for milo, and only 4 The dlgestibllity of the carbohydrates was high for all six grains,, ranging from 95.3 to 98.6 per cent.