Unfolding History of Local Guinea Sorghum Enhanced for Food Quality through Potassium Hydroxide and Bleach Test: Farmer Alternative to Climate Variability Resilience

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L). Moench) is an important staple food crop produced essentially under rained conditions in Mali. To preserve and exploit sorghum genetic diversity, germplasm collection was undertaken in 1978 across Mali. During this germplasm evaluation in 1982, a particular guinea sorghum cultivar from Chegue village in north western Mali, recorded as CSM63, was identified for its earliness and photoperiod insensitivity. This cultivar was unfortunately segregating not only for a testa presence, which is detrimental to Tô color and nutritional quality, but also for flowering time and plant height. Field screening coupled with the potassium hydroxide and bleach (KOH: B) tests were performed to eliminate testa while maintaining CSM63 agronomic values. Overall objectives were to trace history of CSM63 native population, screen for testa absence and define its favorable cropping zone. Field experiments were conducted at the Cinzana Agronomic Research Station (SRAC) while laboratory tests for testa absence and cooking quality were conducted at Sotuba Food Technology Laboratory (LTA) in Mali. Two thousand (2000) plants from original CSM63 population were grown in a complete isolation from other sorghum varieties to select 288 panicles for testa absence. For yield trial, a completely randomized block design was used with 3 replications. After series of selfing, a pure new line (CSM63-18-1AF) was identified without a testa with similar maturity, grain yield, better Tô color and nutritional values than the original CSM63. The new line was named CSM63E and its cropping zones were delimited beyond its center of origin. CSM63E was released for large scale production by Institut d'Economie Rurale (IER) and registered in National and West African Countries Regional Sorghum Catalogs. The adopted line is named Jakunbe (prevent drought) in Bambara language) by farmers. Jakunbe is the number one certified sorghum seed produced in Mali in 2016 in term of quantity. Cropping both Jakunbe and late maturing varieties beyond isohyets 700 mm exposes farmers to yield losses caused by non-proper environment.