Project Number: 5430-44000-023-08
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 01, 2012
End Date: Jul 31, 2013

Objective:
1. To identify new sources for cold tolerance from exotic sorghum minicore germplasm through green house and field evaluation, and 2. To screen potential cold tolerance sources for Pythium spp. and analyze for tannin and other related quality traits.

Approach:
Experimental Design: A sorghum minicore collection will be evaluated extensively for agronomic traits including resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses to identify accessions with desirable characteristics for use in crop improvement research and genomic studies. Seeds of all 245 germplasm (122-photo-sensitive; 123 photo-insensitive) were multiplied and now readily available for cold tolerance study. Flowering dates and yield will be recorded for all samples and seedlings will be harvested and analyzed for shoot and root weight. Grain quality traits, such as kernel physical traits (hardness, weight and diameter), total phenolic content and presence of tannins will be measured on samples.