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Title: Registration of sorghum germplasm Tx3408 and Tx3409 with tolerance to sugarcane aphid [Melanaphis saccari (Zehntner)]

Author
item MBULWE, LLOYD - Texas A&M University
item PETERSON, GARY - Texas Agrilife
item Armstrong, John
item ROONEY, WILLIAM - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/22/2015
Publication Date: 1/4/2016
Citation: Mbulwe, L., Peterson, G.C., Armstrong, J.S., Rooney, W.L. 2016. Registration of sorghum germplasm Tx3408 and Tx3409 with tolerance to sugarcane aphid [Melanaphis saccari (Zehntner)]. Journal of Plant Registrations. 10(1):51-56.

Interpretive Summary: We are releasing two parental sorghum lines that were developed with the cooperative effort of Texas A&M Department of Crop Science, and the USDA-ARS. These two parental lines have been proven to show a high degree of tolerance to the sugarcane aphid, and will be a significant benefit to sorghum breeding programs within the United States. Field and greenhouse evaluations proved that the source of resistance is tolerance, and that these elite and diverse parental lines show significantly reduced phenotypic damage when infested with high numbers of sugarcane aphids.

Technical Abstract: The sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) germplasm lines Tx3408 and Tx3409 were developed and released from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the USDA-ARS in 2015. Both of these lines were developed from intentional crosses using the pedigree method of plant breeding. The breeding crosses for these lines were made in College Station with selection and advancement made in multiple locations across Texas. Screening for sugarcane aphid (SCA) resistance/tolerance was completed in field and greenhouse environments where sugarcane aphid pressure varied among environments. All of these lines express consistently high levels of tolerance to sugarcane aphid infestation; they are not immune when sugarcane aphids are present but do not accumulate high numbers of SCA and exhibit less phenotypic effects of infestation. They provide the sorghum industry with sources of tolerance to the SCA in an elite and diverse genetic background.