ETYM New Lat., probably of Chinese origin.
1. Economically important Old World tropical cereal grass.
2. Made from juice of sweet sorghum; SYN. sorghum molasses.
Kind of tropical forage grass, yielding syrup. Or great millet or Guinea corn; Any cereal grass of the genus Sorghum, native to Africa but cultivated widely in India, China, the US, and S Europe. The seeds are used for making bread. Durra is a member of the genus.
Around 58 million metric tons of sorghum are grown worldwide on 44 million hectares. It is vulnerable to the fungus ergot, which can destroy whole crops. In 1994 a simple fungicidal spray of garlic and water was found to be nearly 100% successful in combatting ergot.