Location: Plant Stress and Germplasm Development Research
Project Number: 3096-21000-021-006-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2018
End Date: Dec 31, 2022
Objective:
1. Utilize cold tolerant and other genetic markers developed by Geoff Morris lab in an applied breeding program.
2. Develop elite seed parent and pollinator parents with high yields and enhanced early-season cold tolerance.
3. Develop and test new sorghum hybrids across a broad range of environments in Kansas.
Approach:
Development of cold tolerant germplasm using traditional and molecular approaches: We will first utilize current breeding populations developed for cold tolerance to quickly develop cold tolerant breeding lines. The current status of preliminary populations is currently at the F3 stage of development. We will also make breeding crosses between elite lines that yield well in Kansas with sources of cold tolerance identified by the Morris lab. The sources of high yielding elite lines were developed from 5 years of inbred and hybrid testing in both Texas and Kansas growing environments. We will utilize our winter nursery in Puerto Vallarta, MX to expedite the breeding process so we can quickly begin hybrid testing. In FY19 we will develop at least 100 elite germplasm lines in both seed-parent and pollinator genetic backgrounds for hybrid testing, all originated from the preliminary cold populations. In FY20 we will have cold tolerant materials from the new populations developed between USDA and Kansas germplasm.
Hybrid testing: We will utilize both public and private breeding programs for hybrid testing. We will evaluate developed hybrids in Hays, KS (Dr. Ramasamy Perumal) and Lubbock, TX for adaptation, tolerance to abiotic stress, and for the ability to yield under cool and also optimum soil temperatures. We will also work closely with our cooperators at Pioneer and Advanta and will provide them seed of the best performing hybrids for additional testing and potential commercialization. Top performing hybrids will also be entered into the Kansas Performance Tests so producers will have published and publicly available data concerning the yield performance of newly developed hybrids.
