Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) is a nutritious crop widely adapted to grow in arid and semi-arid agro-ecologies, supporting millions of households, and it has the potential to enhance soil health. However, extreme drought and heat stress conditions curtail its yield potential, requiring global efforts to develop drought-tolerant and agronomically superior cultivars. The objective of this paper was to quantitatively assess the impact of drought stress on sorghum genotypes for agronomic and yield-related traits, based on global breeding efforts for drought-tolerant varieties to guide current and future improvement programmes. The study involved a meta-analysis based on 30 selected research papers published around the world that reported on sorghum agronomic and yield-related traits under non-stress (NS) and drought stress (DS) conditions. Data were extracted for the following vital traits: days to 50% flowering (DTF), days to 50% maturity (DTM), plant height (PH), number of tillers (TN), panicle length (PL), panicle width (PW), shoot biomass (SB), root biomass (RB), root-to-shoot biomass ratio (RS), stay green (SG), and grain yield (GY). The sorghum genotypes reported with drought tolerance exhibited a mean GY value of 3.30 t ha−1, ranging from 0.55 to 8.39 t ha−1 under DS conditions. Under NS conditions, the mean GY was 4.38 t ha−1, with the top genotype scoring a GY of 14.1 t ha−1. Drought reduced TN and GY by 42.12% and 27.18%, followed by PW (25.52%) and SB (22.12%)—in that order. The forest plot analysis revealed that drought had a negative effect on the assessed traits, highlighting the need for developing drought-tolerant cultivars. The highest effect sizes were calculated for TN (−1.83), followed by PW (−1.69), and SB (−1.33), whereas PL (−0.1) had the lowest, suggesting that PW and SB are critical for selection in drought-tolerance breeding. Under DS conditions, GY exhibited positive correlations with RS (r = 0.63), RB (r = 0.50), SB (r = 0.27), DTM (r = 0.26), and SG (r = 0.21). The findings of this study could guide future breeding efforts to develop drought-tolerant sorghum varieties.
Asande Ngidi, Hussein Shimelis, S. A. Tesfamariam et al.· Agriculture· 0 citations
Groundnut, or peanut, is an industrial oilseed crop that serves the food and feed industries and provides income along the value chain. Pre‐ and post‐harvest aflatoxin contamination, caused by
Aspergillus
spp., hinders the food and feed value and market opportunities of groundnut products. Developing and deploying aflatoxin‐resistant varieties is the most sustainable and economic approach to control aflatoxin for human and animal well‐being. Variable resistance to
Aspergillus
infection and disease development has been reported, depending on cultivar susceptibility, crop management practices, and environmental conditions. Hence, understanding the physical, biochemical, and genetic basis of resistance mechanisms to
Aspergillus
infection is vital for the design and deployment of new varieties. Despite modest global efforts, notably in effective aflatoxin diagnosis and identification of the toxic secondary metabolites, there are limited breeding efforts that have bred and deployed aflatoxin‐resistant varieties. This review aims to present the impacts of groundnut aflatoxin contamination and the progress and opportunities in resistance breeding using current technologies and innovations. The first section presents the production status of groundnut and the extent and conditions of aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin control methods and components of resistance are described in the second section, followed by progress and opportunities of resistance breeding with advanced technologies, including omics‐assisted and gene‐editing approaches. Information presented in the review may guide breeding and genetic management of aflatoxin, targeting the development of new varieties with desirable product profiles and durable resistance to control aflatoxin contamination along value chains.
Tullu Tadessa Asefa, Hussein Shimelis, J. Pasupuleti et al.· Food and Energy Security· 0 citations
Maize streak virus (MSV) is a major constraint on maize production in the dry and hot tropics, where susceptible cultivars suffer complete yield loss. The objective of this study was to assess the response of tropical-environment-adapted maize inbred lines for MSV resistance and major agronomic traits to identify parental lines for resistance breeding.
Seventy-four inbred lines, including six controls, were evaluated under artificial MSV inoculation over two seasons using an 8 × 10 alpha lattice design.
A significant variability (P ≤ 0.05) was detected among genotypes for MSV resistance and yield components. Area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) ranged from 0.00 to 240.6, disease incidence from 0 to 100%, and grain yield from 0.54 to 4.99 t ha⁻¹. Genotype-by-season interactions were significant for disease incidence and yield-related traits, with most traits showing moderate to high heritability. MSV disease parameters were negatively correlated with grain yield and agronomic traits. Elite parental lines MM05, MM17, MM19, and MM25 were identified as valuable donor parents combining MSV resistance with superior grain yield and favourable agronomic performance. Lines MM10, MM11 and MM72 were identified for hybrid breeding due to their combination of high grain yield and MSV tolerance. Finally, MM36 and MM35 were recognised for their outstanding grain yield performance, attributable to their MSV tolerance.
The identified inbred lines provide complementary sources of MSV resistance and represent valuable donor parents for introgression and developing high-yielding MSV-resistant maize hybrids.
Malven Mushayi, Hussein Shimelis, S. A. Tesfamariam et al.· Frontiers in Agronomy· 0 citations
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