Location: Crop Genetics and Breeding Research
2020 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Chemical characterization of sweet sorghum juice and bagasse. Sweet sorghum juice is traditionally used to produce a high-value edible syrup and has potential uses in fermentation to produce fuel ethanol or higher-value bio-based products. However, selecting and breeding sweet sorghum for specific juice chemical properties is slow and laborious. The effects of environment and biotic stresses, such as sugarcane aphid infestation, on juice properties are also largely unknown. Juice and bagasse were collected from different cultivars grown in various environments over three years at Tifton, Georgia. In collaboration with an ARS scientist at New Orleans, Louisiana, rapid analytical techniques were used to screen the sweet sorghum juice and bagasse for various chemical properties. These techniques included cyclic voltammetry and fluorescence excitation emission spectrophotometry with parallel factor analysis (EEM/PARAFAC). Three fluorescent chemical signatures were detected in the juice by EEM/PARAFAC (two protein-like structures and a conjugated aromatic structure), indicative of redox-active compounds. Rapid detection of chemical signatures could be used to pre-screen breeding material for juice quality traits, without tedious or expensive chemical separations. In addition, a correlation between trans-aconitic acid and sugarcane aphid tolerance was observed, suggesting that this compound could play a role in biotic stress tolerance in sorghum.
Review Publications
Kaur, G., Guo, J., Brown, S., Head, G.P., Price, P.A., Paula-Moraes, S., Ni, X., Dimase, M., Huang, F. 2019. Field-evolved resistance of Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) to transgenic maize expressing pyramided Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2 proteins in northeast Louisiana, the United States. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 163:1-20.
Li, S., Hussain, F., Unnithan, G.C., Dong, S., Ulabdin, Z., Gu, S., Mathew, L.G., Fabrick, J.A., Ni, X., Carriere, Y., Tabashnik, B.E., Li, X. 2019. A long non-coding RNA regulates cadherin transcription and susceptibility to Bt toxin Cry1Ac in pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology. 158:54-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2019.04.007.
Zhao, X., Wang, W., Ni, X., Chu, X., Li, Y., Lu, C. 2019. Utilising near-infrared hyperspectral imaging to detect low-level peanut powder contamination of whole wheat flour. Biosystems Engineering. 184:55-68.
Pekar, J.J., Murray, S.C., Isakeit, T.S., Scully, B.T., Guo, B., Knoll, J.E., Ni, X., Abbas, H.K., Williams, W.P., Xu, W. 2019. Evaluation of elite maize inbred lines for reduced Aspergillus flavus infection, aflatoxin accumulation, and agronomic traits. Crop Science. 59:2562-2571. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2019.04.0206.
Uchimiya, M., Knoll, J.E. 2019. Accumulation of carboxylate and aromatic fluorophores by a pest-resistant sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench] genotype. ACS Omega. 4(24):20519-20529. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.9b02267.
Falcon, C.M., Kaeppler, S.M., Spalding, E.P., Miller, N.D., Haase, N., Alkhalifah, N., Bohn, M., Buckler IV, E.S., Campbell, D.A., Ciampitti, I., Coffey, L., Edwards, J.W., Ertl, D., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gore, M.A., Graham, C., Hirsch, C.N., Holland, J.B., Jarquin, D., Knoll, J.E., Lauter, N.C., Lawrence-Dill, C.J., Lee, E.C., Lorenz, A., Lynch, J.P., Murray, S.C., Nelson, R., Romay, M., Rocheford, T., Schnable, P., Scully, B.T., Smith, M.C., Springer, N., Tuinstra, M., Walton, R., Weldekidan, T., Wisser, R.J., Xu, W., De Leon, N. Relative utility of agronomic, phenological, and morphological traits for assessing genotype-by-environment interaction in maize inbreds. Crop Science. 2020; 60:62-81. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20035
Mcfarland, B.A., Alkhalifah, N., Bohn, M., Bubert, J., Buckler IV, E.S., Ciampitti, I., Edwards, J.W., Ertl, D., Gage, J.L., Falcon, C.M., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gore, M., Graham, C., Hirsch, C., Holland, J.B., Hood, E., Hooker, D., Jarquin, D., Kaeppler, S., Knoll, J.E., Kruger, G., Lauter, N.C., Lee, E.C., Lima, D.C., Lorenz, A., Lynch, J.P., Mckay, J., Miller, N.D., Moose, S.P., Murray, S.C., Nelson, R., Poudyal, C., Rocheford, T., Rodriguez, O., Romay, M., Schnable, J.C., Schnable, P.S., Scully, B.T., Sekhon, R., Silverstein, K., Singh, M., Smith, M., Spalding, E.P., Springer, N., Thelen, K., Thomison, P., Tuinstra, M., Wallace, J., Walls, R., Wills, D., Wisser, R.J., Xu, W., Yeh, C., De Leon, N. Maize genomes to fields (G2F): 2014 –2017 field seasons: genotype, phenotype, climatic, soil and inbred ear image datasets. BMC Research Notes. 13,71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-4922-8.
Soni, P., Gangurde, S.S., Ortega-Beltron, A., Kumar, R., Parmar, S., Sudini, H.K., Lei, Y., Ni, X., Huai, D., Fountain, J.C., Njoroge, S., Mahuku, G., Radhakrishnan, T., Zhuang, W., Guo, B., Liao, B., Singam, P., Pandey, M.K., Bandyopadhyay, R., Varshney, R.K. 2020. Functional biology and molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions for aflatoxin contamination in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and maize (Zea mays L.). Frontiers in Microbiology. 11:Article 227 p. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00227.
Jia, B., Wang, W., Ni, X., Chu, X., Yoon, S.C., Lawrence, K.C. 2020. Detection of mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi in cereal grains using vibrational spectroscopic techniques: A review. World Mycotoxin Journal. 13(2):163-178. https://doi.org/10.3920/WMJ2019.2510.
Harris-Shultz, K.R., Knoll, J.E., Punnuri, S., Niland, E., Ni, X. 2020. Evaluation of strains of Beauveria bassiana and Isaria fumosorosea to control sugarcane aphids on grain sorghum. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment. 3:e20047. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20047.
Harris-Shultz, K.R., Punnuri, S., Knoll, J.E., Ni, X., Wang, H. 2020. The sorghum epicuticular wax locus Bloomless2 reduces plant damage in P898012 caused by the sugarcane aphid. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment. 3:e20008. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20008.
Lahiri, S., Ni, X., Buntin, G., Toews, M.D. 2020. Parasitism of Melanaphis sacchari (Hemiptera: Aphididae) by Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the greenhouse and field. Journal of Entomological Science. 55:14-24.
Jia, B., Wang, W., Ni, X., Lawrence, K.C., Zhuang, H., Yoon, S.C., Gao, Z. 2020. Essential processing methods of hyperspectral images of agricultural and food products. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems. 198:Article 103936. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemolab.2020.103936.
Lu, Y., Wang, W., Huang, M., Ni, X., Chu, X., Li, C. 2020. Evaluation and classification of five cereal fungi on culture medium using Visible/Near-Infrared (Vis/NIR) hyperspectral imaging. Infrared Physics and Technology. 105:Article 103206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2020.103206.