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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Plant Stress and Germplasm Development Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345490
Title: Seedling growth characteristics relates to the staygreen trait and dhurrin levels in sorghum

Author
item Emendack, Yves
item Burke, John
item Sanchez, Jacobo
item Chopra, Ratan
item Hayes, Chad
item Xin, Zhanguo
item Burow, Paul

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/18/2017
Publication Date: 2/5/2017
Citation: Emendack, Y., Burke, J.J., Sanchez, J., Chopra, R., Hayes, C.M., Xin, Z., Burow, P.D. 2017. Seedling growth characteristics relates to the staygreen trait and dhurrin levels in sorghum. Meeting Proceedings. p.14.

Interpretive Summary: One of the limitations in breeding for pre-and/or postflowering drought stress resistance in sorghum is the fewer availability of diverse genetic sources possessing drought tolerant agro-morphological or physiological traits that could be introgress into elite sorghum lines. The impact of drought stress on sorghum yield does not only depend on the intensity and timing of drought, but as well on the developmental stage of the crop. This research evaluate a diverse group of introgress, converted, and commonly used sorghum breeding lines for their tolerance to field drought stress imposed at the pre-flowering and post-anthesis developmental stages in two growing seasons. Agro-morphological characteristics such as panicle area, panicle width, and percent green leaf (stay-green trait) and yield-related characteristics such as total above ground dry biomass and dry panicle weight were identified as significant predictors of grain yield. The current research identifies other sources of pre-flowering and postflowering drought tolerance that could be use by breeding programs as donor lines for traits related to pre-and postflowering drought tolerance in sorghum.

Technical Abstract: The impact of drought stress on sorghum yield does not only depend on the intensity and timing of drought, but as well on the developmental stage of the crop. One of the limitations in breeding for pre-and/or postflowering drought stress resistance in sorghum is the fewer availability of diverse genetic sources possessing drought tolerant agro-morphological or physiological traits that could be introgress into elite sorghum lines. This research evaluate a diverse group of introgress, converted, and commonly used sorghum breeding lines for their tolerance to field drought stress imposed at the pre-flowering and post-anthesis developmental stages in two growing seasons. Agro-morphological characteristics such as panicle area, panicle width, and percent green leaf (stay-green trait) and yield-related characteristics such as total above ground dry biomass and dry panicle weight were identified as significant predictors of grain yield. The current research identifies other sources of pre-flowering and postflowering drought tolerance that could be use by breeding programs as donor lines for traits related to pre-and postflowering drought tolerance in sorghum. The lines JB39, SC191, and SC270 and RIL R.11269 are plausible sources for pre-flowering drought tolerance while JB14, JB15, JB19, JB24, JB25, JB26, and JB33 are sources for postflowering drought tolerance. While the stay-green trait is a good selection tool for postflowering drought tolerance, identifying stay-green lines with minimal reductions in grain yield and with earlier flowering dates (JB14, JB24 and JB25 in this study) than most commonly used stay-green donor lines, will ensure that grain yield is not over sacrificed by the ability of the crop to stay green under terminal drought conditions.