Molecular evaluation of Ethiopian sweet sorghum germplasm and their contribution to regional breeding programs

Sweet sorghum is an excellent feedstock for ethanol production and is also used for food and livestock feed. Germplasm collection and characterization in sweet sorghum is a crucial step towards breeding and development of superior genotypes for various end-uses. In the present study, 13 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers were used for genotyping 175 Ethiopian sweet sorghum genotypes alongside 27 improved accessions from eastern and southern Africa. All the tested markers detected 159 alleles and a high degree of polymorphism information content (PIC) averaging 0.69. A comparison between Ethiopian and improved accessions revealed higher allele numbers (124) in Ethiopian than improved accessions (92 alleles). More than half (65 out of 124) of the alleles observed in the Ethiopian accessions were rare (<5%) and 64 were private (only present within Ethiopian accessions) while in the improved accessions, 41% and 38% of the alleles detected were rare and private respectively. Both weighted Neighbor Joining-based clustering and hierarchical clustering grouped the 202 accessions into three major clusters based on geographical origin. Ethiopian accessions from the north (north Wello and south Tigray) not only clustered separately from accessions from the west central and eastern Ethiopia, but were also distinct from most of the improved genotypes. Our results reveal an unexploited highly diverse sweet sorghum genetic resource from Ethiopia that can be included in the regional breeding programs in order to efficiently optimize productivity

Novel sources of drought tolerance from landraces and wild sorghum relatives

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide and second aftermaize (Zeamays L.) in Kenya. It is an important food security crop in arid and semi-arid lands, where its production potential is hampered by drought. Drought tolerance can be measured by a plant’s ability to resist premature senescence, often described as stay-green. This study was carried out with the objective of identifying novel stay-green trait among wild and landrace genotypes of sorghum. Forty-four sorghum genotypes that included 16 improved, nine landraces, and 17 wild relatives of sorghum alongside known stay-green sources, B35 and E36-1, were evaluated under well-watered and water-stressed conditions in an alpha-lattice design of three replications. Data was collected on plant height (PHT), flag leaf area (FLA), panicle weight (PWT), 100-seed weight (HSW), relative chlorophyll content (RCC), number of green leaves at maturity (GLAM), days to 50% flowering (DFL), and grain yield (YLD). Genetic diversity was determined using diversity arrays technology (DArT) sequencing and quality control (QC) markers were generated using a java script. Lodoka, a landrace, was the most drought-tolerant genotype, recorded the highest numbers of RCC and GLAM, and outperformed B35 and E36-1 in yield under water-stress and well-watered conditions. The RCC was highly correlated with GLAM (r = .71) and with yield-related traits, HSW (r = .85), PWT (r = .82), and YLD (r = .78). All traits revealed high heritability (broad-sense) ranging from 60.14 to 98.4% for RCC and DFL, respectively. These results confirm earlier reports that wild relatives and landraces are a good source of drought tolerance alleles

Ethiopia’s transforming wheat landscape: tracking variety use through DNA fingerprinting

Ethiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa yet remains a net importer. Increasing domestic wheat production is a national priority. Improved varieties provide an important pathway to enhancing productivity and stability of production. Reliably tracking varietal use and dynamics is a challenge, and the value of conventional recall surveys is increasingly questioned. We report the first nationally representative, large-scale wheat DNA fingerprinting study undertaken in Ethiopia. Plot level comparison of DNA fingerprinting with farmer recall from nearly 4000 plots in the 2016/17 season indicates that only 28% of farmers correctly named wheat varieties grown. The DNA study reveals that new, rust resistant bread wheat varieties are now widely adopted. Germplasm originating from CGIAR centres has made a significant contribution. Corresponding productivity gains and economic benefits have been substantial, indicating high returns to investments in wheat improvement. The study provides an accurate assessment of wheat varietal status and sets a benchmark for national policy-makers and donors. In recent decades, the Ethiopian wheat landscape has transformed from local tetraploid varieties to widespread adoption of high yielding, rust resistant bread wheat. We demonstrate that DNA fingerprinting can be applied at scale and is likely to transform future crop varietal adoption studies

Ethiopia’s transforming wheat landscape: tracking variety use through DNA fingerprinting

AbstractEthiopia is the largest wheat producer in sub-Saharan Africa yet remains a net importer. Increasing domestic wheat production is a national priority. Improved varieties provide an important pathway to enhancing productivity and stability of production. Reliably tracking varietal use and dynamics is a challenge, and the value of conventional recall surveys is increasingly questioned. We report the first nationally representative, large-scale wheat DNA fingerprinting study undertaken in Ethiopia. Plot level comparison of DNA fingerprinting with farmer recall from nearly 4000 plots in the 2016/17 season indicates that only 28% of farmers correctly named wheat varieties grown. The DNA study reveals that new, rust resistant bread wheat varieties are now widely adopted. Germplasm originating from CGIAR centres has made a significant contribution. Corresponding productivity gains and economic benefits have been substantial, indicating high returns to investments in wheat improvement. The study provides an accurate assessment of wheat varietal status and sets a benchmark for national policy-makers and donors. In recent decades, the Ethiopian wheat landscape has transformed from local tetraploid varieties to widespread adoption of high yielding, rust resistant bread wheat. We demonstrate that DNA fingerprinting can be applied at scale and is likely to transform future crop varietal adoption studies.</jats:p