Screening sorghum accessions for resistance against anthracnose and grain mold through inoculating with pathogens

Authors: Prom, Louis; Cuevas, Hugo; ISAKEIT, THOMAS - Texas A&M University; MAGILL, CLINT - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Journal of Experimental Agriculture International
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2020
Publication Date: 2/19/2020
Citation: Prom, L.K., Cuevas, H.E., Isakeit, T., Magill, C. 2020. Screening sorghum accessions for resistance against anthracnose and grain mold through inoculating with pathogens. Journal of Experimental Agriculture International. 42(1):73-83. https://doi.org/10.9734/jeai/2020/v42i130453.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.9734/jeai/2020/v42i130453

Interpretive Summary: Anthracnose and grain mold are two fungal diseases of sorghum that cause yield losses ranging from 50 – 100% annually in areas where susceptible lines are planted. Forty-seven sorghum accessions were tested for resistance against the pathogens causing these two diseases. The study showed that 11 lines were resistant to anthracnose, four lines were resistant to grain mold, and two lines showed resistance to both diseases. This work is significant because it has identified two sorghum lines that can be used by breeders in the USA and abroad to develop new anthracnose and grain mold resistant sorghum lines and hybrids.

Technical Abstract: Forty-seven sorghum accessions obtained from USDA National Plant Germplasm System were evaluated for resistance against the pathogens causing anthracnose and grain mold over three growing seasons at the Texas AgriLife Research Farm, Burleson County, Texas. Eleven accessions, including PI641874, PI656070, PI656115, PI656121, and PI534167 were consistently resistant when challenged with the anthracnose pathogen, Colletotrichum sublineola. Accessions PI574455, PI534047, PI533843, and PI656120 exhibited resistance grain mold response across treatments. Whereas five accessions were resistant when inoculated with A. alternata alone, six accessions when treated with a mixture of A. alternata, F. thapsinum and C. lunata, and six accessions under the control treatment. Also, accessions PI534047 and PI574455 showed grain mold resistance response when treated with alternata alone, a mixture of A. alternata, F. thapsinum and C. lunata, or under the control treatment. Accessions PI534138, PI656115, and PI656120 exhibited resistance response to anthracnose and to grain mold when inoculated with a mixture of A. alternata, F. thapsinum and C. lunata. In conclusion, the resistant accessions identified in this study can be used in breeding programs to develop anthracnose and grain mold resistance lines. However, further study will be required to determine the inheritance of the resistance genes in some of the accessions.