Water and Fertilizer Influence on Sorghum Grain Quality for Traditional Beer (Dolo) Production in Burkina Faso

In the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso, grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is the major cereal crop used to produce the traditional beer called dolo. Grain sorghum grain samples collected in 2004 and 2005 from experiments combining five water management techniques and four fertilizer treatments in a randomized complete block design with a split plot arrangement of treatments were analyzed for the physicochemical properties of raw grain, and quality of malted grain. Water management techniques were allocated to main plots and fertilizer treatments to subplots. The objective was to determine the best combination of water management technique and fertilizer treatment to optimize grain quality of the red grain sorghum varieties IRAT9 and ICSV1001 (Framida) for dolo production. Results showed that the grain physicochemical properties and malt quality of the two varieties were influenced by both water management technique and fertilizer treatment. Pearson correlations indicated that grain yield was rarely correlated with the physicochemical properties of raw grain and malt quality parameters. Diastatic power was positively correlated with protein concentration and malting losses, but negatively with tannin concentration. Based upon results, recommendation for the production of sorghum grain and malt with the needed characteristics for high dolo quality would be the use of water management techniques that sufficiently improve soil water conditions in combination with a microdose + 20 kg P ha-1 + 30 kg N ha-1 fertilizer application that provides sufficient nutrients and particularly nitrogen to the crop.