Journal of Cereal Science 93 (2020) 102955 Available online 13 March 2020 0733-5210/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Identification of sorghum genotypes suitable for specific end uses: Semolina recovery and popping C. Aruna * , M. Suguna , K.B.R.S. Visarada , C. Deepika , C.V. Ratnavathi , V.A. Tonapi Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad, India A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Semolina recovery Popping efficiency Pop volume expansion G x E interactions Correlations ABSTRACT There has always been an interest in devising breeding programs for designer foods that would benefit both the producer and consumer. The challenge today is transformation of agriculture from “subsistence farming” to “market and income generation oriented” production system for which sorghum with its diverse end uses can assume significant role. Breeding for end-use identity-specific genotypes is needed for increased profitability to the farmers. In the present study, 60 sorghum genotypes were evaluated over two years to identify genotypes suitable for semolina recovery and popping properties, i.e. popping efficiency and pop volume expansion. Semolina recovery ranged from 20.7% to 48.3%, while popping efficiency ranged from 0 to 77.5%. Semolina recovery had positive and significant association with endosperm texture (r ¼ 0.62), grain density (r ¼ 0.49) and grain hardness (r ¼ 0.55) indicating that genotypes with corneous endosperm yield high semolina. Also, semolina recovery had significant positive correlation with popping efficiency (r ¼ 0.49) indicating that genotypes suitable for semolina can also be used for popping. Genetic divergence studies indicated that out of three clusters formed, cluster II having guinea race germplasm lines are suitable for semolina and popping. The information generated and the genotypes identified will help in enhancing the demand for sorghum as an industrial crop. 1. Introduction Sorghum is an important coarse cereal crop and is gaining impor- tance as an industrial crop. It is used for human consumption, animal feed, and as a raw material in starch and alcohol industry. It is a rec- ommended food for celiac patients and the obese. Being a C4 plant with high photosynthetic efficiency, it can be grown on marginal lands. Sorghum has high yielding ability even under harsh environmental conditions which makes it an important component in the cropping systems of the arid and semi-arid regions (USDAFAS, 2018). It has gluten free grains and is a good source of nutraceuticals such as antioxidant phenolics and cholesterol-lowering waxes (Taylor et al., 2006) and thus becomes an attractive alternative over other cereals such as wheat, rye and barley. Because of these high bioactive phenolic compounds, sorghum-based products have a high potential for their inclusion in the health industry. Grain sorghum can also be processed to develop different end products such as flours, semolina, alcoholic beverages, pet foods, packaging materials etc (Aruna and Visarada, 2019). Sorghum grain is used in many food preparations such as thin or stiff porridges, fermented beverages, tortilla production, leavened or unleavened breads, brewing, snack foods etc as a partial or whole replacement of other cereals like wheat, maize. The health benefits of sorghum and the opportunities for the crop to ensure global food and nutritional security are well reviewed and summarized by Teferra and Awika (2019). Until recently, major emphasis is given on yield enhancement and stress tolerance in sorghum, while little or no emphasis is given for identification or development of genotypes for specific end-uses. The global malnutrition crisis urges the need to shift research emphasis to- wards grain quality of the staple cereal crops to ensure food and nutri- tional security. Recently, more attention has been given to the characterization of specific genotypes for the development of high quality products (Galassi et al., 2019; Tuinstra, 2008). Wide range of end-use products that can be made from sorghum demand different grain characteristics and altered crop ideotype (Taylor et al., 2006). The quality of the final product is influenced by both physical and biochemical properties of the grain which play an important role at various steps of the processing. Among the processed food items of sorghum, the semolina and popped sorghum have advantage as these come under ready-to-cook (RTC) and ready-to-eat (RTE) category of products. The sorghum breakfast cereal was reported to have better * Corresponding author. Indian Institute of Millets Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, 500 030, India. E-mail address: aruna@millets.res.in (C. Aruna). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cereal Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcs https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2020.102955 Received 26 December 2019; Received in revised form 4 March 2020; Accepted 6 March 2020