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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #311318
Title: Registration of N641 and N642 waxy Grain Sorghum Genetic Stocks

Author
item Yerka, Melinda
item Toy, John
item Funnell-Harris, Deanna
item Sattler, Scott
item Pedersen, Jeffrey

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2015
Publication Date: 4/10/2015
Publication URL: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jpr/pdfs/9/2/258
Citation: Yerka, M.K., Toy, J.J., Funnell-Harris, D.L., Sattler, S.E., Pedersen, J.F. 2015. Registration of N641 and N642 waxy Grain Sorghum Genetic Stocks. Journal of Plant Registrations. 9:258-261. DOI: 10.3198/jpr2014.10.0075crgs.

Interpretive Summary: Low-amylose starch from waxy varieties of corn, wheat, rice, and potato is preferable to normal starch in the ethanol industry due to shortened fermentation times, and in the food industry for its improved pasting properties. Sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop, so using waxy varieties to produce low-amylose starch may reduce water use. However, commercial sorghum grain is typically produced with hybrids. A joint effort by the USDA-ARS and the Agricultural Research Division, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska developed waxy grain sorghum parent lines suitable for making hybrids. N641 is a hybrid seed parent and N642 is a hybrid pollen parent. Both lines yielded as much grain or more than their near-isogenic normal counterparts, Wheatland and Tx430, respectively. Field emergence and days to flowering were also similar. N641 and N642 were released in June 2014 to facilitate breeding and evaluation of waxy and heterowaxy hybrids for end users in the ethanol and food industries.

Technical Abstract: Loss-of-function mutations in the granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS) gene result in an endosperm with a waxy appearance and a near absence of amylose starch. waxy grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] lines, AN641, BN641, and RN642 (PI 672150 to PI 672152) were developed jointly by the USDA-ARS and the Agricultural Research Division, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska, and were released in June 2014. A/BN641 has the waxyb (wxb) allele and is near-isogenic to ‘Wheatland’. RN642 has the waxya (wxa) allele and is near-isogenic to ‘Tx430’. Release of these lines facilitates the production and evaluation of interallelic (wxb × wxa) waxy and heterowaxy [wxb × wild-type (WT) and WT × wxa] hybrids as a source of low-amylose starch for the ethanol and food industries.