﻿UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



fllf BULLETIN No. 1129 » 





Washington, D. C. T November 27, 1922 



A PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL STUDY OF MILO AND 

 FETERITA KERNELS. 



By George L. Bidwell, Leslie E. Bopst, and John D. Bowling, Cattle Food and 

 Grain Investigation Laboratory, Miscellaneous Division, Bureau of Chemistry. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Purpose of investigation 1 



Physical properties of kernels 2 



Chemical composition of kernels 3 



Malting of kafir, milo, and feterita 5 



Summary 7 



Bibliography 7 



PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION. 



The grain sorghums are a comparatively new crop in the United 

 States, where they have been grown for only 25 or 30 years (2). l . 

 At first their use was largely restricted to the feeding of farm animals. 

 These grains, however, are now being used in increasing quantities 

 for human food and various industrial purposes, and are receiving 

 attention from manufacturers of alcohol and starch. Feterita and 

 milo, which contain on an average 65 per cent of starch, seem to be 

 especially suitable as raw material for the manufacture of high-grade 

 starch by commercial processes. 



As a basis for a process utilizing nonsaccharine sorghums in the 

 manufacture of starch and feeding stuffs, and to provide data for 

 engineers who may be called upon to design machinery for their 

 treatment, the Bureau of Chemistry has conducted a study on the 

 physical characteristics and the chemical composition of milo and 

 feterita kernels and the various parts into which they might be 

 separated by milling. This study is a continuation of similar work 

 done on the kafir kernel, the results of which are published in United 

 States Department of Agriculture Bulletin 634. Milo and feterita 

 have the same botanical characteristics and the kernels very much 

 the same structure as the kafir kernel (Fig. 1). The data on corn 

 and kafir herein reported are taken from Bulletin 634. 



i The numbers in parentheses throughout this bulletin refer to the bibliography on page S. 

 12343°— 22 



