Title: Performance of Sorghum Stay-green Introgression Lines Under Post-flowering Drought
Abstract: Stay-green sorghum exhibits greener leaves and stems during the grain filling period under drought conditions, resulting in increased grain/mass yield, and lodging resistance. To improve sorghum grain yield (GY) under post-flowering drought, we developed 46 BC2F4 stay-green introgression lines (BILs) from a cross between ‘Tabat’ × B35 by marker-assisted backcrossing (MAB). These BILs had one or more of the four stable stay-green QTLs (Stg1 to Stg4) from the donor B35. We evaluated these lines to examine the progress made in transferring the drought tolerance under irrigated and rain-fed environments in Sudan. The introgression of the stay-green QTLs enhanced post-flowering drought tolerance and increased the GY and biomass of ‘Tabat’. Under drought conditions, some BILs had GY and biomass higher than ‘Tabat’. By contrast, under irrigation, the GY of the BILs was lower than that of ‘Tabat’ indicating that further backcrossing is necessary to restore ‘Tabat’ yield potential. Stg1 was the best QTL in term of GY. QTL pyramiding increased the tolerance, however, it might not always be necessary. Based on the biplot analysis; several genotypes will be selected and advanced to further backcrossing. The study provided evidence that MAB with stay-green QTLs can enhance sorghum yield under post-flowering drought in Sudan and similar agro-ecological zones.
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Date: 2017-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 5
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