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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #409770
Research Project: Molecular and Genetic Approaches to Manage Cotton and Sorghum Diseases

Location: Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research

Title: Correlations among agronomic traits obtained from sorghum accessions planted in a field infected with three important fungal diseases

Author
item Prom, Louis
item Cuevas, Hugo
item Ahn, Ezekiel
item ISAKEIT, THOMAS - Texas A&M University
item MAGILL, CLINT - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Studies
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/13/2023
Publication Date: 1/9/2024
Citation: Prom, L.K., Cuevas, H.E., Ahn, E.J.S., Isakeit, T.S., Magill, C.W. 2024. Correlations among agronomic traits obtained from sorghum accessions planted in a field infected with three important fungal diseases. Journal of Plant Studies. 13(1):11. https://doi.org/10.5539/jps.v13n1p11.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/jps.v13n1p11

Interpretive Summary: Grain mold, anthracnose, and rust are important fungal diseases of sorghum affecting both yield and quality, resulting in world-wide monetary losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. A total of 179 sorghum cultivars were planted in Isabela, Puerto Rico, to determine the association among important agronomic traits and diseases. The results showed several significant associations between panicle height and rust infection, panicle height and grain mold infection, germination rate and panicle height, flowering time and panicle height, and flowering time and panicle length. The work is significant because it shows that selecting cultivars with certain agronomic traits could reduce the occurrence of these fungal diseases in sorghum.

Technical Abstract: A total of 179 sorghum cultivars planted in replicated plots in Isabela, Puerto Rico, were evaluated for five agronomically important traits grain yield, seed weight, panicle height, panicle length, and flowering time. This study identified the top cultivars in each trait through statistical analysis. In a previous study, the reaction of the same cultivars to anthracnose, rust, grain mold, and germination rates was determined. Combining the five traits in this study and the previous four measured traits, a correlation analysis among the nine traits was conducted. The results revealed that there are significant correlations between a few paired traits. Correlations such as panicle height and rust infection (Spearman’s '= 0.36), panicle height and grain mold infection (Spearman’s '= -0.30), germination rate and panicle height (Pearson’s r= 0.31), germination rate and panicle length (Pearson’s r= 0.27), panicle length and panicle height (Pearson’s r= 0.52), flowering time and panicle height (Pearson’s r= 0.65), and flowering time and panicle length (Pearson’s r= 0.50) were found.