b'compound profiles to develop a genomic prediction breeding system. Desirable traits will be rapidly introgressed into adapted high-yielding commercial sorghum lines. The project involves the participation of a private sorghum seed company, and Rosichan says its anticipated that such close public-private collaboration will accelerate the breeding, development and release of nutritionally-enhanced sorghum seed in less than the typical eight to 10-year timeframe. The final step of the project will involve feeding the enhanced grain to poultry and measuring growth rate, but also whether the compounds might reduce disease in the gut.Creating a Trait LibraryAnother collaborative sorghum genetics project is also under-way, spanning around the world. A team at Denmarks Carlsberg Research Laboratory (led by Vice President Birgitte Skadhauge through the Crops for the futureTackling the challenges of changing climates project) will work with University of Queensland (Robert Henry) and Copenhagen University (Birger Lindberg Mller).The aim of this work is to make it possible for breeders to find traits of interest more quickly by creating an easily-accessible genetic library. Henry explains that this study is about 500 times larger than previous studies, which significantly increases the possibility of finding desired variants. The lines are being generated from a single variety using mutagenesis (deliberate causing of mutations through well-established industry methods). Henry notes that traditionallyBen Beyer says Advanta foresees that U.S. sorghum acreage will when mutagenesis is employed, genes of interest are found andincrease for feed useboth for dairy and beef cows.PHOTO: ADVANTA SEEDSthen the new trait is established over several generations. In this case however, mutagenesis will be used to generate and propa-gate half a million genetically-diverse sorghum lines in advance, which are already being grown in Australia.Progress Already AchievedThe Danish team is now extracting DNA from the seeds andAccording to John Duff, sustainability strategy consultant for using high-throughput DNA screening tools to create the search- National Sorghum Producers, global sorghum production has able database of genetic traits.been stable over the last few years at about 101 million acres For example, when we decide we want to find one of the(42 million hectares). However, acreage is now growing in some DNA sequence variants that might be associated with diseaseSouth American and European countries. And with the new resistance, we will contact Denmark, Henry says. Theyll do thegenetics to come, Duff expects acreage to grow in most if not all screening and tell us what packet of seed is likely to have theof the worlds sorghum regions, from Africa to Europe to the U.S. genetic variant of the gene we are looking for. Well then growI think well see more sorghum being grown on prime farm-that and see if it provides the disease resistance we were hopingland, he says. The droughts in recent years in the U.S. have for. He adds that analysis will continue for as many years as spe- already resulted in many farmers switching to sorghum from cific mutants are required. other crops due to its productivity. But some of the acreage Henry and his colleagues are also hopeful that the same pro- growth will be on marginal land where sorghum already outper-cess can be used on other cereals in the future. forms many other crops. And with varieties that will be released However, Pedro Alejandro Pardo, senior breeder and sor- in the future, well get bigger yields on both prime land and ghum research lead at Advanta Seeds, notes that while breedersmarginal land.will be able to access diverse genotypes from this project, breed- However, Duff points out that there are varieties being ing of this crop can be tricky, as it is with many other crops. Hereleased right now that are already great improvements over explains that sometimes tolerances to drought or resistance toanything that has come before. certain diseases or pests can be negatively associated with yield.Over the last 15 years, weve seen an infusion of capital from Ill add that sorghum drought-tolerant hybrids must delivera genetics improvement standpoint and those returns are now improved varieties for associated key traits like heat stress toler- coming in, he says. With these additional breeding projects, ance and stalk lodging, says Pardo. He also reminds us that cropthe future is very bright for sorghum as a nutritional powerhouse management practices are important contributor to performance.crop that will boost food security around the world.SW80/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2023'