Project Number: 5440-21220-027-19
Project Type: Trust

Start Date: Jan 10, 2010
End Date: Oct 31, 2012

Objective:
The objectives of this cooperative research project are to select homozygous tester lines from African sorghum germplasm, and to cross sorghum lines engineered for enhanced nutritional content onto those tester lines for risk assessment.

Approach:
Using data in GRIN, 18 wild sorghum accessions in the US collection originating from Africa have been selected for photoperiod insensitivity and height. These 18 accessions will be evaluated in the greenhouse for flowering synchrony with the source line of African Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) events in winter 2010 and self pollinated. S1 progeny will be evaluated in the field for uniformity and a minimum of three apparently homozygous lines (if present) will be selected and released into the public domain for use as tester lines for use in risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) sorghum. In the winter of 2011, an ABS line engineered for enhanced nutritional content and its null line will be crossed to selected tester lines and F1 seed generated for use in future risk assessment experiments.