Evaluation of nutritional properties of tissue cultured sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench]

Tissue culture techniques are commonly used in plants as an efficient way to propagate and store valuable genotypes. Often, some of the regenerants differ from the parental type, a phenomenon called somaclonal variability. Assessment of nutritional value variability in crops that may arise from somaclonal variability during tissue culture propagation may have a strong impact on plant breeding, conservation of genetic resources and nutrition in the areas of use. It is particularly useful in the characterization of individual cultivars, and in determining duplications in germplasm collections and for selecting parents. The Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench tissue culture (TC) regenerants (Seredo, Mtama 1 and El Gardam) were developed at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology towards improvement for water stress tolerance for improved food production in the ASALs in Kenya. The study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of the parents and TC regenerants of Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench local cultivars (Seredo, Mtama 1 and El Gardam) in Kenya. For proximate composition significant (p≤0.05) differences were observed in parents and regenerants of the El‐Gardam (moisture, proteins and crude fiber), Mtama 1 (proteins) and Seredo (fats and crude fiber). The mineral compositions of the parents and regenerants of the cultivars were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) except for Zinc in Mtama 1 cultivar and Iron in both El‐Gardam and Mtama 1 cultivars. B‐vitamins showed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) for both thiamine and Pyridoxine in El‐Gardam and Seredo. Significant variability (p ≤ 0.05) was shown phytates content in each cultivar. The parents were observed to have significantly higher amounts of Phytates than the regenerants within all the cultivars. The study recommends Mtama 1 regenerants with low anti‐nutrient appropriate for ASALs with respect to nutrient availability since anti‐nutrients in sorghum have been shown to impair the bioavailability of the other nutrients to the body.Key words: Cultivars, TC regenerants, water stress tolerance, nutritional valu