Abstract
Differences in the physical structure and chemical composition of sorghums result in different nutritional values. Sorghums with high in vitro nutrient digestibility tend to have greater ileal and total tract nutrient digestibilies. Soft endosperm can improve growth and nutrient digestibility in nursery pigs and broiler chicks. However, finishing pigs respond less to endosperm hardness. Chicks benefit from waxy sorghums, but responses of swine to waxy sorghum remain controversial. Reduction of particle size benefits nursery pigs more than finishing pigs, while age of chicks affects the coarseness preference. Nutritional benefits of thermal processing in sorghum remain unclear in chicks and pigs. Although experiments have demonstrated increased efficiency with processed sorghum, processing provided only an immediate solution to the problem of reduced utilization. Long-term, solutions will be genetic improvement of physical and on chemical characteristic.