Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mayaguez, Puerto Rico » Tropical Crops and Germplasm Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #66869
Title: REGISTRATION OF SIXTY-THREE CONVERTED SORGHUMS FROM THE SORGHUM CONVERSION PROGRAM

Author
item ROSENOW, DARRELL - TEXAS AGRIC EXP STA
item Dahlberg, Jeffery
item MILLER, FRED - TEXAS A&M
item PETERSON, GARY - TEXAS AGRIC EXP STA
item JOHNSON, J - TEXAS AGRIC EXP STA
item STEPHENS, J - RETIRED USDA

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/31/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Sorghum varieties and hybrids grown in the United States are valued at approximately 1 billion dollars a year to the American Farmer. The Sorghum Conversion Program was started to introduce greater genetic variability found in the tropical sorghums into temperate sorghums. Sixty-three sources of sorghum germplasm converted to early-maturing, combine-height, were released jointly by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS in 1970. The converted lines were developed through a backcross procedure in which tall, late-maturing tropical varieties or cultivars were converted to early-maturing, combine-height sorghums. They represent new sources of germplasm from the World Sorghum Collection and are of a height and maturity to make them readily usable in the United States and other temperate-zone areas of the world. These materials should contain new sources of desirable traits such as diversity, disease and insect resistance, drought resistance, and improved grain quality, and should be useful germplasm to breeders and other sorghum researchers in developing improved lines and hybrids.

Technical Abstract: Improvement of and increase utilization of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] within the United States can only be accomplished by tapping into the genetic variability of exotic germplasm. Sixty-three sources of sorghum germplasm converted in the Sorghum Conversion Program, conducted jointly by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS, were released in 1970. All converted lines received four backcrosses to the original exotic variety. Exotic varieties were used as male parents in all crosses and backcrosses until the third backcross when they were used as the female in order to recover the original cytoplasm in the converted line. The converted lines are nonsensitive to photoperiod, will mature normally in the United States, and are short statured. They represent new sources of germplasm from the World Sorghum Collection and are of a height and maturity to make them readily usable in the United States and other temperate-zone areas of the world. These materials should contain new sources of desirable traits such as diversity, disease and insect resistance, drought resistance, and improved grain quality, and should be useful germplasm to breeders and other sorghum researchers in developing improved lines and hybrids.