Evaluation of Stay-green Genotypes at Post-flowering Stage Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]
Sabavat Raju Naik
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi–Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Telangana, India.
SP Mehtre *
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
Damaris A Odeny
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi–Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Telangana, India.
HV Kalpande
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
RR Dhutmal
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
AW More
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
Kailamoorthy
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi–Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Telangana, India.
DK Zate
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
M Wankhade
Department of Agricultural Botany, College of Agriculture, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Reduced leaf senescence, or stay-green, has been shown to enhance tolerance to post-flowering moisture stress in grain sorghum. This study evaluated stay-green donor and recipient lines, including F3 recombinant lines, in both well-watered and post-flowering drought stress environments. The results demonstrated that most of the introgression lines exhibited higher leaf chlorophyll content at maturity and a greater percentage of green leaf area during the grain-filling stage compared to the recurrent parents, including R16, indicating the successful expression of the STG3B QTL for stay-green under drought stress. These findings suggested that the F3 recombinants might contain the STG3B QTL is significant potential for improving post-flowering drought tolerance in sorghum.
Keywords: Sorghum, post-flowering, stay-green, drought tolerance