Project Number: 5430-44000-023-05
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 15, 2010
End Date: Aug 14, 2015

Objective:
1) Determine if differences in mycorrhizal dependence exist in selected US elite sorghum hybrids and African sorghum lines, and determine how this is reflected in their response to low input management (low levels of N and P); 2) Integrate these findings into measures of the growth and production of sorghum crops, grain quality, and evaluation of end-use quality.

Approach:
Our approach will be to 1) evaluate mycorrhizal dependency of modified sorghum cultivars in controlled greenhouse studies; 2) determine consequence of reductions in dependency on the symbiosis by assessing: drought tolerance, grain quality (C:N:P) and quantity, biomass production, and root morphology (e.g. root length production) of selected cultivars; 3) assess drought tolerance, tissue quality, and biomass production of selected cultivars grown with and without the fungal symbiont, under high- and low-input fertilization; 4) conduct biochemical characterization of sorghum starch and protein; and 5) evaluate end-use grain quality from each cultivar.