(1) Background: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a staple food cereal for most of the rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa. In Burkina Faso, a great diversity of sorghum cultivar is cultivated, but its nutritional potential still needs to be assessed. This study aims to characterize the physicochemical and nutritional profile of grains from 15 sorghum cultivars grown in Burkina Faso in order to identify the best ones for selection and breeding programs. (2) Methods: The physicochemical, nutritional, and antioxidant-activity characterizations of the grains were performed according to standard methods. (3) Results: The study shows significant differences between cultivars according to the physicochemical traits of the grains, such as 1000-grain weight, moisture, and germination rate. For nutritional parameters, the best contents of carbohydrates (79.36%), proteins (9.21%), and fats (4.40%) were recorded with cultivars V12, V8, and V11, respectively. The heavy grains are flouriest with high contents of carbohydrates with high ABTS antiradical activity. However, these grains have low contents of proteins and flavonoids. Those with high ash contents are the richest in amylose and phenolic compounds. Principal component analysis based on physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of sorghum grains identified four groups of varieties with specific characteristics. Group 1 (G1), which includes cultivars V1, V12, V13, V14, and V15, is characterized by a high weight of 1000 grains and mealy cultivars with relatively high total carbohydrate content and ABTS^.+ antiradical activity. Group 2 (G2) includes cultivars V7, V9, and V11 and is characterized by cultivars with low 1000-grain weight, less floury but good germination rate, high protein, flavonoids, and relatively high antioxidant activity. Group 3 (G3) includes cultivars V3, V4, and V8 with relatively high ash, amylose, and polyphenol contents, while group 4 (G4), which includes cultivars V2 and V6, has high antioxidant activity and high fatty acid content. Conclusions: The study recorded a variation of physicochemical and nutritional characteristics of sorghum grain according to cultivars. The cultivars were divided into four groups. Among them, the group 1 cultivars have the best nutritional traits and could therefore be used in breeding and selection programs to improve the nutritional potential of sorghum.

Sorghum grain is a vital staple cereal crop for food and nutritional security for rural households in Burkina Faso. However, its yields are regularly affected by environmental and socio-economic constraints. Here, we aim to assess the performance and grain yield stability of local sorghum genotypes, as well as their acceptability by smallholder farmers. Nine genotypes were assessed across five environments in the North-Sudanian zone (700–900 mm) in Burkina Faso during the 2019, 2020, and 2021 rainy seasons. A randomized complete block with three replications was used to establish the experiments, from which data were collected on five quantitative traits as well as five participatory assessment criteria chosen by sorghum farmers and users. Grain yield analysis for each environment revealed significant differences between genotypes. The combined analysis showed highly significant differences between genotypes, environments and years, as well as their interactions. Most of the variation in grain yield was hexplained by the environment effect (29.0%), followed by the environment-by-year interaction (20.3%). The GGE biplot analysis identified two mega-environments (ME) with ME1 consisting of one environment (E1) and ME2, represented by four environments (E2, E3, E4, and E5). The E1 is a non-discriminating and poor environment with the lowest grain yield (1506 kg ha⁻¹). The E5 and E2 were respectively, the most discriminating and representative environments, with also the highest grain yields (2406 and 2102 kg ha⁻¹). In terms of stability, genotypes G6, G3, G5, and G9 exhibited the highest stability but lower performance, while G4 was the most unstable. G2 and G8, which produced respectively 2240 and 2072 kg ha⁻¹, were better adapted to ME2. G2 was identified as the closest to the "ideal genotype". The principal component analysis showed that genotypes G2, G8, G7, G4, and G9 were the most selected in both individual and group assessments, owing to the panicle productivity, the good grain quality for storability, the grain attractiveness, and grain heaviness. This study highlighted the potential of genotypes G2 and G8 as promising varieties that could broaden the range of improved varieties and offer income opportunities for sorghum smallholder farmers in Burkina Faso.

Local sorghum varieties managed and cultivated by farmers contribute in a large part in crop production of Burkina Faso. The loss of local sorghum varieties were reported, but very few investigations have been made on it. This study was conducted to assess the status of 739 local sorghum varieties collected in four regions of Burkina Faso and to identify the threats factors of sorghum diversity. A sample of 159 varieties identified as “rare” and described by the cycle length, the uses and disadvantageous characteristics has been submitted to a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to determine sorghums groups and characterize them. The results showed a higher varietal richness in the North, East and Centre-East regions compared to the South-West region, with respectively 13.0; 11.7; 10.9 and 6.1 varieties per village. The MCA underlined four main groups of sorghum: custom sorghums, lain period sorghums and tincture sorghums, pharmacopeia sorghums and sweet-stem sorghums; they are characterized by lateness associated to the low grain productivity, earliness associated to the low grain quality, drought sensitivity. For these sorghums groups it appears that the climatic and socio-cultural changes are the main threats factors of sorghum diversity loss. Farmers' associations at regional level and research structures should in common develop suitable initiatives to follow-up and conserve sorghum diversity. Key words: Sorghum, local varieties, lateness, decline of uses, erosion.

Pangenomics has been promoted to accelerate breeding of orphan crops, but smallholder farmers in developing nations have seen little benefit so far. To address this gap, we built a global pangenomic breeding network, integrating African breeding programs, U.S. land grant universities, and international nonprofit research organizations. Here we demonstrate that pangenomics, when integrated with local crop improvement knowledge and global scientific partnerships, can facilitate breeding of drought and pest resilient varieties for smallholders. To breed trait-enhanced sorghum varieties with lgs1-1 resistance to witchweed (Striga hermonthica) for smallholders in Niger, one of the world's least developed nations, we used population genomics across local and global scales to develop lgs1-1 Striga resistance markers, and deployed them for rapid introgression of resistance into locally-preferred varieties. Genomic characterization, along with controlled experiments in laboratory, pot, field stations, and smallholder farms, confirmed lgs1-1 resistance was introgressed without loss of essential local-preference traits. New pangenomic resources, including global resequencing and graph pangenomes, further accelerated design of broadly-applicable markers. Unlocking the potential of pangenomics for stress-resilience breeding depended on stakeholder input, strong inference, South-led decision support software, and a dense collaborative network. The experience of the network provides a scalable roadmap for collaborative pangenomic breeding of trait-enhanced varieties for the world's lowest-resourced farmers.

Patterns of genetic structure and phenotypic diversity in sorghum landraces in relation to farmers’ management in Burkina Faso

Journal to Publish Research Papers in the field of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology. It is DOI peer reviewed online journal.