Nutrient Composition and Feeding Value of Sorghum for Livestock and Poultry: a Review

Sorghum, an indigenous cereal of Africa benefits from an ability to tolerate drought, soil toxicities and temperature extremes effectively than other cereals. In terms of the nutritive value, cost and availability, sorghum grain is probably the next alternative to maize in poultry feed. The CP content of sorghum is higher than that of maize but about equal to wheat. The energy value of sorghum is rated as high as 90 – 100% of maize depending on the livestock specie. The dried leaves and stems form useful roughage for cattle and horses while the well matured plant can be used as green fodder or silage. It is however, unsafe to feed the young green plant since they contain dhurrin, a cyanogenic glycoside which on hydrolysis yields hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Sorghum brewers’ dried grains, sorghum dust and malted sorghum sprouts by products from the use of sorghum in beer production are utilised to varying degrees in livestock and poultry feeding. Nutrient digestibility of sorghum is influenced by the level of tannin concentration in the grain, low starch availability, differences in cultivars, resistance to digestive enzymes, species and age of animals. Generally, sorghum appears to be well suited as a substitute for maize in livestock and poultry feeds.