Record Details

An Approach to Screening for Resistance to Water and Heat Stress in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)

OAR@ICRISAT

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/4207/
 
Title An Approach to Screening for Resistance to Water and Heat Stress in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)
 
Creator Peacock, J M
Azam-Ali, S N
Matthews, R B
 
Subject Sorghum
 
Description Sorghum (Sorglttrm bicolor (L.) hlocnchl is an important food crop of thc arid and scmiarrd tropics
but average yields are s t i l l bclow 1.000 kilograms per hcctare. and under drought conditions these
may fall below 100 kilogranls per hectare or there may evcn be total crop failure.
Breeding for drought ,resistance in sorghum is a complex problem. Th e ohjec~ivco f thi s paper
is to drscribc the developnicnt of a screening technique. based on a "physiological approach." Itiitially.
a sample of gcnotypes ucrc selected from the sorghum genetic rcsources acccs5ions at the
lntcrnational Crops Research I nsti tute for the Semi - Arid Tropics (ICKISAT) Ccntcr 10 rr'prc=,cnt
material collected from many countries over a range of altitudes (0 to 2.000 rnetcrs) and nwan annual
rainfall (250 to 2 .SO0 niillimcters). covering most of the taxonomic groups. Some advanced hrccding
materials were also included in this sample of over 700 lines. They were scrccncd undcr suvcre
drought conditions at ICRISAT in thc relatively rain-free summers from 1983 to 19S5.
Considerable genetic variation was shown in the response of these genotypes to ~.atcarn d
heat stress. Visually observcd dillercnces in "resistant" and "susceptible" genotypes in tcrnis of
desiccation tolerance or avoidance. recovery resistance and ability to produce grain after the onwt
of rains was thcn shown to be associatcd with spccilic physiological traits. Sc'lcctcd physiological
data from a fc\v contrasting genotypes wcrc shown on relati\'e leaf-watcr content (RL\VC). leafwater
potential and lcaf stoniatal conductance (gl). Thcse results vcrify that the visual "resi~-
tance" traits identificd earlier were bascd on measurable physiological responses.
In conclusion. i t is argued that thc approach described has proved to be succcsslul in idcntifying
drought-mistant germplasni. With more basic research on the same contrasting genotyps. the
problcm of idcntifying drought-rc%istant sorghums could be largely ovcrcome.
 
Date 1985
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/4207/1/CP_232.pdf
Peacock, J M and Azam-Ali, S N and Matthews, R B (1985) An Approach to Screening for Resistance to Water and Heat Stress in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). In: Proceedings of an International Research and Development Conference, 20 - 25 October, 1985, USA.